Love Unearthed
by Alex the fire girl
Summary: Naley. Nathan and Haley are having some trouble, but the reminder of a bet with Dan in the past might push them together once more.
1. Chapter 1

I've been writing this story in response to a challenge by gabrieller82 of another board for a while and I just decided to put it up here. As always, I don't own the characters, I'm simply borrowing them. I hope you guys enjoy it.

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The words on the computer screen in front of her were beginning to blur, becoming little more than a continuous mass of black against white. Haley Scott blinked twice before tiredly rubbing her eyes, allowing her fingers to move away from the keyboard for the first time in hours. Her dark gaze moved to the clock on her desk and she sighed when she saw that it was a little after nine in the morning.

It had been a stupid decision to start writing when she woke up at three that morning, unable to sleep. Somehow she had fooled herself into believing that she could write until exhaustion took over her and then fall into a deep slumber. In reality, she had pushed aside her fatigue and ridden the wave of creativity until she was utterly spent.

Haley saved her work and shut her laptop, then dragged her tired body from the dinky desk chair and out of the room. As soon as she was in her bedroom, she collapsed onto her bed and nearly moaned with contentment. What had felt uncomfortable and stifling earlier now felt like a piece of heaven, like a cloud descended from the sky to grace her for a few hours. One finger absently trailed the flowers on her yellow bedspread as she slowly drifted from consciousness.

The shrill ringing of the telephone broke the tranquil silence of the house only minutes later, and Haley growled as she reluctantly reached for the offending device. She was tempted to let the machine pick up but the incessant ringing would drive her mad before then. What had possessed her to program the phone to ring seven times before the machine picked up, anyway?

Her laziness and habit of losing everything not attached to her body, that was what.

"Hello?" she mumbled sleepily into the phone after clicking it on.

"Tell me you're still sleeping and not still awake," a familiar voice demanded.

Haley sat straight up in bed, her eyes wide open, suddenly as awake as she'd be if she'd had a pot of coffee. She hadn't heard that voice in over a week—eleven days, to be exact—and the way it still went directly to the core of her soul surprised her. Nathan, her confident, handsome, successful husband and also one of the most inattentive bastards she'd met in her lifetime. Why hadn't his effect on her started to diminish by now? And why was he even calling her?

When they had been in high school, Nathan Scott had swept her off her feet. He'd been Tree Hill High's star basketball player, a cocky kid with an attitude who knew exactly how good he was and didn't feel bad about flaunting it. She'd been a quiet girl, almost a wallflower, who had been convinced to tutor him despite her multiple doubts on the issue. Neither of them had expected to like the other. Since she was best friends with one of Nathan's biggest adversaries—as well as his half-brother—they'd thought an explosion was inevitable.

In a way, their relationship had been an explosion. For Haley it had been new and exciting and scary all at the same time, like a wonderful roller coaster that was so intimidating she just had to jump on, and once she was on she could only sit back and enjoy the ride. He'd captured her heart quite skillfully, surprising her by pushing aside his bad-boy image and just being human.

Each had been just what the doctor ordered for the other. Haley helped Nathan deal with his family issues, which were both stressful and horribly screwed up, and made him see that being a good guy wasn't so bad. Nathan showed her that living impulsively and reaching out for things that sometimes didn't seem possible—or reliable and safe—was sometimes necessary to reach happiness.

And they had been happy together, for years. They officially became a couple during their junior year, beating out numerous odds against them, and were married when they were twenty-two, after they both graduated from college. For about two years, they were perfectly content to live the married life together and things seemed like they would work out wonderfully. A fairy-tale happy ending didn't seem so far-fetched to Haley.

Then everything seemed to start going wrong. Nathan's work in advertising became more demanding as he began to move up the industry scale. Sometimes his behavior when he was home made her wonder if he was working more just to escape her or if he was truly just too lazy after work to pay attention to her presence. To keep herself busy, she started putting more energy into her job at the local newspaper and her freelance writing. They'd started fighting, escalating to a blowout that had sent her from their house and to the small apartment she now called home.

Separated. That was the technical term for what they were, but she knew what it meant. She'd seen it before. First came separation and then divorce, something she'd told herself she would never do. Something she'd never thought she'd have to do, when she and Nathan had been so enthralled with each other when they were married.

And now he was calling her, sounding almost concerned. He surprised her. He worried her. More than anything else, he drove her absolutely nuts.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I was actually just drifting off," she answered, unable to keep her voice even. She regretted the words the instant they were out of her mouth; she didn't want to fight with him, but she couldn't repress the bitterness that had welled up inside her. "Is something wrong, Nathan?"

"Because someone needs to have died for me to call my wife?" he snapped, sounding irritable.

Haley sighed and rubbed her eyes. If he was in one of his moods, she just wanted to get off the phone. How had she spent almost seven years of her life with him and managed not to strangle him? She deserved a medal of some kind. "Just answer the question, Nathan."

"I got a call from my mom yesterday."

There were a myriad of options stemming from that statement that could have driven him to call her. His parents' relationship had always been touchy. His father Dan was the biggest jerk she'd ever met and had made Nathan's teenage life a living hell. Debra, his mother, was a nice enough woman but she and Dan tended to fight as much as they got along. Haley had always been there for Nathan when his parents drove him to the brink of his sanity.

She hoped even now she could uphold that stability for him.

Haley waited for him to say something more, but the line was silent. "Okay… what is it, Nathan? Is she all right? Is it your dad?"

"They're fine."

"I don't feel like playing a guessing game with you right now. Is something wrong or not?"

"I think there is. They're coming to visit."

Haley's fingers absently tightened around the comforter on her bed. They hadn't told their parents about the separation yet. As far as she knew, only Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer, her closest friends, were privy to that information. It would put Nathan in an awkward situation, sure, but it wasn't world-ending. "So…"

Nathan sighed on the other end of the connection. "Haley, you're not getting it. My parents are going to be here in two days to visit us. You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?"

"The bet."

Haley's face slowly lost it's color and she almost dropped the phone she held against her face. "Oh, shit."


	2. Chapter 2

They had been young when Dan Scott had challenged them with a wager that they, in their idealistic naiveté, had not been able to ignore. Mere teenagers who thought that they were the only two people in the world that really mattered, that they would be together forever without question. He was the first boy to make her heart pound and her pulse race. She was the first girl who made him want to be a good person, someone worth her time.

Fairy tales, Haley now thought bitterly. The bet had been a stupid one, pointless and cruel. The challenge was voiced after the last game of the basketball season their senior year. Nathan had played an amazing game that attested to his physical prowess and Haley had thrown herself into his arms, beaming, almost as soon as the final buzzer sounded. She congratulated him on how well he'd done, her voice radiating the way only a proud girlfriend's could.

Nathan, grinning as he held her close, had remarked teasingly about whether or not she'd still like him when he was too old to play.

That had been when Dan Scott approached, the cocky smirk on his face as condescending as if he were about to talk to a child about utterly adult business. "You actually think you two will be together when you're that old?" There was a pause and when Nathan didn't respond, he went on, "It's cute, your little relationship, but it's far from meaningful and life-long."

"Because you're such a great judge of meaningful relationships?" Haley had asked, her voice biting. Everyone knew about the troubles in Dan and Deb's marriage; taking advice from him on how to build a lasting relationship was like asking Satan how to become an angel.

Dan's eyes cut into her, but they all knew that he wouldn't attack her verbally with Nathan right there. Quite frankly, Haley didn't give a shit if Dan hated her. He could have jumped off a cliff in a hula skirt and lei, and all she would have said was good riddance. "You'll get tired of each other soon enough and realize what a waste of time this was. Nathan, it's distracted you from your game."

"I just scored thirty-eight points."

"And just think. Without clouding your mind with thoughts of her, you could have scored forty. Or more. All for something that's not going to be here ten years from now."

Haley had felt Nathan go stiff and tried to keep a reign on her own emotions. Somehow she'd managed to keep her voice calm as she said, "We'll just see about that."

The moment Dan's eyebrow raised, Haley knew his evil mind was working up trouble. God, how she hated that man! "If we're so confident, why don't we bet on it?"

"Bet?" Nathan and Haley had repeated, their voices equally cautious.

"If you last ten years from graduation, you win. No, not even ten. I'll give you a break—lucky seven. You last seven years and I'll admit that I was wrong about you two and leave you alone. If you don't, I win and you both admit that you were wrong and this stupid little thing between you was nothing. And you, Nathan, give up these foolish dreams of working in advertising and work for me. Join the family business."

They had known that it was pointless. It really could only hurt them in the long run. Getting rid of Dan's annoying presence after seven years didn't seem like enough of a reward against the possibility of having to bow down to him. It was like making a bet with the devil and they knew they could get burned by taking it.

In the end, it was pure pride had forced them to take it. They knew they wouldn't have been able to face him after that without him bringing up their lack of faith in their relationship if they said no.

Now Haley wished she'd been smarter and not let that damn man grate on her nerves the way he had.

Seven years from the day of their graduation. Doing the mental math, she realized with frustration that the day was five months away.

"Haley?" Despite trying to sound like her decision meant nothing to him, Nathan sounded strained and worried on the other end of the phone and Haley knew he wanted less than anything to lose the bet with his father.

"What exactly are you suggesting we do, Nathan?"

"Lie our asses off," he replied bluntly. "I need him to think we're still together."

This was the man who'd ignored her for so long for his work. Well, he sure wasn't ignoring her anymore.

She could back out, leave Nathan to deal with the consequences of their agreement. But she knew that wasn't right, and if she did it she would never be able to forgive herself. She was a woman who stood by her word.

And she desperately wanted to see Dan Scott eat his words.

Haley had to swallow the lump forming in her throat and force her next words out. "I'll be there tomorrow morning. Try to make the house look at least halfway decent."

His sigh of relief came through the line clearly. "What are you going to be doing until then?"

_Rearranging my life for you, you undeserving pig._ "Lounging poolside," she drawled dryly. "I'm going to be getting my things together, Nathan."

"Right. You might want to go to the market, too, to pick up some groceries. Mom'll be able to figure out you wouldn't live in a house that only has old pizza and beer in the fridge."

Haley resisted the urge to roll her eyes and let out a groan. This was going to drive her insane. She just knew it. "Anything else you want me to do? Pick up some dry cleaning? Wash your car? Scrub the floors with a _toothbrush_?" she offered sarcastically.

He laughed and Haley saw so much of the old high school Nathan in him that she would have smacked him if she'd been with him face-to-face. "I personally think that's going a little overboard, don't you? It's my parents, not the President. But if you feel up to it, I won't stop you."

This time the groan couldn't be repressed. "How long are your parents in town for?"

"A week, I think. Maybe more."

"One week too long."


	3. Chapter 3

Sitting in her car in the driveway of the house that she and Nathan had shared for almost four years, Haley felt, not for the first time since the day before, like she might be sick. It was odd how the house looked exactly the same as it had when she'd left when it seemed like nothing in her life was the same. She no longer lived in this house, the house she loved, the house she helped decorate. Her marriage was in shambles.

Even better, she was about to pretend for a week or more that things between her and Nathan were just fine and dandy.

No, things were definitely not the same. Haley actually felt insecure about walking into such familiar territory. Well, she'd be damned before she let Nathan know it. Gathering a degree of composure she didn't really feel, she grabbed her keys, purse, and a few grocery bags and headed for the front door.

She walked inside and found with relief that he wasn't home. At least that would give her a little time to gain her bearings. Haley headed straight for the kitchen, noting that Nathan had done little by way of cleaning up the house. At best, she had an hour of vacuuming and tidying up to do. Only a further perusal of the house would tell exactly how much more time she'd waste cleaning up after him.

Despite the annoyance that hit her on seeing the small mess he'd made of their home, she couldn't help feeling a twinge of relief to be back. Actually being in the house made her feel like she belonged there.

She had just finished bringing in the groceries when the front door opened and shut, announcing Nathan's arrival. She continued about her business, unpacking things and putting them carefully in the proper cabinets, until she felt a presence that she couldn't help but turn to face. Damn him, something about Nathan Scott could always draw her in like a moth to a flame. He stood in the entrance to the kitchen, dressed in nice slacks and a button-up shirt, just looking at her with those expressive eyes of his. Inside she felt a sudden surge of warmth and her heart thudded in her chest at the way his eyes swept over her, and she silently cursed him for being able to affect her that way.

Well, she wouldn't let him see it. "You didn't clean," she announced flatly, turning to put the milk and orange juice in the refrigerator. She wrinkled her nose when all she saw on the racks were beer, baking soda, a pizza box, and a few cartons of leftover Chinese.

"I'll get around to it," he told her, watching carefully as she investigated the contents of the fridge. She looked good, he admitted to himself. He didn't expect to feel so happy to see her again—in their kitchen, in their house—but he couldn't deny that he was glad she was back, if only for a week. And relieved, oh, was he relieved.

"Right," she replied doubtfully, picking up the Chinese and carefully peeking inside. Instantly she grimaced. "Oh, God, there's something green growing in here and it sure isn't broccoli." Disgusted, she plucked up all the cartons, not daring to look at or smell what was in the others, and pitched them into the garbage.

Nathan tried to stifle his laughter at her expression, but failed and tried a sheepish smile instead. "I've been meaning to toss those."

"Uh-huh." The pizza followed the Chinese into the trash.

"Hey! That was fresh."

"I'm not risking it." She wrinkled her nose and continued putting things away without missing a beat. Her cell phone rang and she reached across the counter and into her purse to grab it. "Hello?" Balancing the phone on her shoulder, she resumed her work around the kitchen.

Nathan watched her, leaning idly against the island in the center of the room. A frown marred his face when he realized who must be on the other end of the line—Randall Sumners, her editor and a guy who would follow her around like a puppy dog if she let him.

When she hung up a minute later, he felt a need to fill the sudden silence. "So how's work? You and Randy still working side-by-side?" he inquired coolly, immediately seeing it as the wrong thing to say—and the wrong tone to say it in. Work was a sour spot between them, and Randy had been the topic of many arguments in the past.

"As always. Hey, how's Cassandra doing?" she asked back, her voice every bit as sharp as his. Where in the weeks before their separation Nathan had been somewhat jealous of her relationship with Randy, Haley had become leery of his doe-eyed assistant Cassandra.

Nathan sighed as he caught the flash of anger in her eyes. This was not the way he wanted things to go, but he could hardly explain to her his unreasonable possessiveness. They weren't even technically together anymore but the thought of her with her doting editor made his skin crawl.

Haley grabbed into the last plastic bag and took a deep breath. She needed not to kill him. Prison life wouldn't fit her at all. She paused and then turned around, not realizing until it was too late that Nathan had moved closer and was almost right behind her. The carrots in her grasp smacked him firmly on the chest, breaking two of the bunch.

For a moment she felt flustered and embarrassed, but one glance at his confused expression and she couldn't help but laugh. "Oops."

"I know you're pissed, but you didn't have to attack me," he teased, trying to break the tension.

"Well, you deserved it." She smiled slightly and tossed the carrots in the fridge with a sigh. "This is going to be a long week if we can't at least be civil to each other. And if Dan feels any sign that we're weakening he'll be attacking us like a rabid dog. So let's just… stay on neutral ground, okay?"

Nathan nodded. Sounded perfectly fine to him.

"I put my stuff in the guest room closest to our old room," Haley went on. "It'll be easier for me to run in and out for the pretense."

"You can't sleep in the guest room."

"Excuse me? Why not?"

"You don't think they'll notice that?"

She frowned. "I'll be sneaky."

"They'll be able to tell," Nathan stated without doubt. "You know my dad. And mom will get curious if she sees anything weird, too. We have to make them think nothing is wrong and that means acting like we did around them before… everything."

Her stomach was starting to form knots, though she couldn't say whether they were from nerves or dread. "But we used to… I mean, you really think Dan's going to be paying that much attention?"

"To win? Have you forgotten what he's like?"

She was beginning to realize that Nathan had a point. "So… everything?" she asked, hoping her voice sounded like more than a squeak. "Kissing and sleeping in the same bed and being nice?"

He nodded. "The whole nine yards."

Had the bet been against anyone but Dan Scott, she would have walked out the front door without looking back. Very little was important enough to put herself through that kind of emotional turmoil. She wasn't even close to being used to life without Nathan yet; what if acting like a happy couple somehow screwed with her mind and made _her_ believe it? Just so she could get hurt again?

"You're asking a hell of a lot for a guy that can't even clean the house when I ask him to," she pointed out, trying to buy time for her to think. Oh, what did it matter? She wouldn't deny him; they both knew it. "I got the food. Time for you to hold up your end of the bargain."

Nathan chuckled. At least she hadn't fought that like he'd thought she would. "All right. Interested in helping?"

She shot him a skeptical look. "You're kidding. Get to work, Cinderella."

"But didn't she at least have rabbits or deer to help her?"

"That was Snow White."

"Mice?"

"You're lazy. You don't get mice." Taking one last look at his pitiful expression, she smirked and walked out of the room. It looked like she had some room changes to make.


	4. Chapter 4

Nathan and Haley didn't sleep in the same room that night. She didn't cook him dinner, and despite his half-teasing pleas, she didn't help him clean the house. As far as she was concerned, since his parents weren't there yet she wasn't required to play the role of the good little housewife.

Not like he'd appreciated it when it had been real anyway.

He was gone by the time she exited her room the next morning. A simple note was taped to the refrigerator, telling her that he would be home at four, early enough that there wouldn't be a chance she'd be ambushed by his parents.

She snorted at the thought. Not ambushed by his parents? Even if he was home on time, she wasn't sure he could prevent that from happening.

Haley spent the day relaxing. She had no assignments from the newspaper and wouldn't for at least the next week, so she wrote idly on her laptop. She admired Nathan's cleaning effort and finished a few things he'd left undone. She dipped her feet in the small pool in their backyard while reading a book. She planned a dinner for that night, rationalizing the action with the fact that in the past she had done so for Nathan and his parents. She even turned the TV on to see a soap opera. Within ten minutes she'd heard about a woman sleeping with her best friend's husband, who may have turned out to be her long lost brother.

It didn't take her long to remember what she hated about having nothing to do.

Four o' clock came and went with no sign of Nathan. By four forty-five, Haley was getting nervous, and by five she had progressed past the nerves and to anger. All three of her calls to his office and cell phone had gone unanswered.

When the doorbell rang at five thirty, she had a sinking suspicion that the Scotts had arrived to find her alone—and ready for the killing. "Damn you, Nate," she muttered to herself as she straightened her shirt and shuffled towards the entryway, as if her husband would magically appear in the time it took her to get to the door. "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to cut you up into little pieces and feed you to piranhas. I'm going to—"

The doorbell rang again.

"—get eaten alive," she finished grimly to herself before yanking open the door, forcing a smile.

There stood Dan and Deb Scott, looking every bit as she remembered them: both dressed casually, Deb with a pleasant and genuine smile on her face, Dan with a self-satisfied smirk on his lips. Haley's stomach tightened and she had to keep herself from dragging Deb inside and slamming the door in Dan's face.

God, did she dislike that man.

"Hi, come on inside," Haley greeted, trying her hardest to sound light and courteous. "How are you? How was the trip?"

"Awful," Dan answered simply before his wife could reply. He stepped inside and past Haley without much of a second glance, his gaze traveling around the entrance to the home. Whether he was looking for his son or something to criticize, Haley wasn't sure.

Deb rolled her eyes as she entered the house, giving Haley a warm hug. "Ignore him. Flying makes him grumpy."

_Flying, living, having other people happy…_ "I'm sure," she said neutrally, shutting the door and praying that Nathan came home soon. How was she going to survive this? Dan had come to visit them in California only once before—Deb had come a few more times—and the stay had been brief and bearable. But then Haley had been deeply in love, enthralled in a way that often took attention away from the less pleasant things in life.

Now she didn't have that barrier and it made her feel painfully exposed.

"It's so good to see you again, Haley," Deb was saying as the three of them walked to the living room to sit down. "You look wonderful. How've you been?"

Lost. Confused. Lonely. Annoyed. "Great," Haley lied smoothly. "What about you? We haven't spoken much lately."

Deb smiled. She had always liked Haley—liked what she stood for, who she was, what she did for Nathan. This was an openly good person, and she was thrilled that her son had been able to keep a hold on her. "I know. We've been meaning to get out here to visit for a while and then Dan's big meeting was cancelled for next week so we decided to just come see you."

"Where's Nathan?"

Dan's blunt question was met by a strict look from his wife, but Haley wasn't surprised. She wasn't the one he was interested in; besides the bet, he probably didn't care whether she lived or died.

It was a good thing she couldn't care less about what he thought of her. "He's still at work," Haley answered. At least, she _thought_ he was still at work.

"He needs to stay at the office to escape you?"

Haley bit her lip to contain the expletives ready to jump forward at her father-in-law. "He was going to come home earlier, but something must have come up." _I can't believe I just made an excuse for him._

A spark of interest lit Dan's dark eyes. "So you've finally loosened the leash a little," he observed. "Good. For a while I thought he couldn't breathe without asking you first."

"Dan…" Deb warned, her voice low.

"Actually, if anyone ever had Nathan on a leash, it was you," Haley replied, her voice calm despite its contempt. "Frankly, I've never needed one. He comes to me willingly."

She shook her head, unwilling to get into a fight with him so early in their visit. They had a week together in the same house. That week would be hell if there was already bloodshed. "If you'll excuse me, I should really get started on dinner. Make yourselves comfortable."

She stood up and walked towards the kitchen, catching the slight smile on Deb's face as she passed the older woman. At least someone was having a little bit of fun.

All Haley had to say was that Nathan better get his ass home soon.


	5. Chapter 5

The opening of the front door was like the rising of the sun for Haley. At first she thought that she was dreaming it up, that her intense desire for Nathan to come home had conjured up the sound. Then she heard Deb and Dan reacting to what otherwise would have been her fantasy, and her relief quickly diminished to fury.

For the past couple of hours, she had tried to shuffle the tasks of cooking for, feeding, and entertaining her in-laws. It sounded simple, but for someone who wanted to be chopping up one of those in-laws rather than the vegetables under her knife, it was harder than boot camp.

She took the time to finish cleaning up in the kitchen before going out to greet Nathan with his parents, something that gave her time to collect herself and gave him time to get the initial pleasantries over with. She was going to butcher him when they had a moment of privacy.

The minute Nathan met Haley's eyes, he knew he was in trouble. He had seen it coming, known about it since the moment Cassandra walked into his office holding a file and telling him that there was a problem, but there had been nothing he could do to get around it. A client wanted changes; he was in no position to say no.

"Hey, Hales," he greeted her, smiling at her and pulling her in for a hug.

She squeezed tighter than he liked, hiding her frown against his shoulder. "You're late," she pointed out, but she only allowed a fraction of her aggravation to creep into her voice. To Dan and Deb, she sounded like little more than a slightly irked wife.

Nathan, however, had known her too long and too well to think she was okay with his tardiness. It was something that had driven her crazy when they were in high school, and in the time before their separation, late nights had become more and more frequent. She still hated to be kept waiting. "I know, I'm sorry."

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked politely, but her smoldering eyes said it was more of an order than a request.

Nathan gave his parents a smile and grabbed Haley's hand. "Sure. We'll be back." Keeping a grip on her hand, he lead her down the hall and towards their bedroom.

When he closed the door, Haley all but ripped her hand free from his grasp. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I had a little crisis to deal with at work."

"Little?" she repeated sarcastically. "You're more than three hours late. Your dad has been trying to pick me apart since they got here and I got within a millimeter of just jumping up and shouting at him. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that was? At least when you're around I have someone else on my side, but when you aren't he pulls out all the stops! And besides that, somewhere in the back of my mind I couldn't help but thinking that something _horrible_ had happened to you! I kept seeing you in a car accident, dying under a wrecked car or something."

He should have felt sorry for her. He of all people knew how tough his father was to deal with. Instead, the corners of his lips began to turn up in a teasing smile. "You were worried about me?"

_Worried about him? Hadn't he heard a thing she'd just said? _"I wasn't worried about you." How had she managed to let that concern slip through, anyway?

"Admit it, you were."

"You're kidding yourself, buddy."

"But you just said—"

"I was only worried that I would be left alone with your parents," she cut in defensively. "Why didn't you at least call to warn me? No, wait. Let me guess. They didn't have phones where you were?"

"I was busy, okay, and I'm sorry," he argued back. "But it wasn't like I didn't try my hardest to get here on time. If there had been a way to get around it, I would have taken it."

Haley nodded skeptically. "Right, because rushing home to see your father has always been on the top of your priorities."

"You think I did it intentionally?" he demanded, his voice rising inadvertently at the thought of it. At her annoyed glance at their closed door, a pointed reminder of what waited for them, he lowered his voice. "Believe me, Haley, I know more than anyone what an asshole my dad can be. I wouldn't wish quality time with him on an enemy."

Haley chuckled; she couldn't help it. He wouldn't wish it on an enemy but he'd subjected her to it. "Not on an enemy but on a wife?" she asked quietly. "Well, that's reassuring."

Nathan silently cursed. Everything he wanted to say always came out wrong around Haley, especially when things mattered. It had been seven years since they'd started dating and still she could fluster him in ways few other women could. She wasn't a vixen; vixens he could handle. He'd always been good with women—teachers, cheerleaders, bartenders—and yet here he was, screwing up and making himself sound like an ass, just because of a hard stare from those beautiful brown eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"I don't know what you mean anymore, Nathan." That was precisely the problem. She hadn't known for quite a while now.

"I just… I couldn't get out, Haley. I had to do it." It actually hurt to watch her sit slowly on their mattress, like she was suddenly exhausted. Her gaze was directed down at her hands, where she was twisting her wedding band around her finger.

He wished he could make her understand—make her see that all the work he did was a good thing. He was moving up in the business, and if he worked hard enough and long enough, they would be okay. His mom had helped them buy the house—without Dan's knowledge, of course—and that had grated on Nathan's nerves more than he would admit. Before he'd married Haley, he'd been a kid who didn't care about finances because he'd always had his parents to fall back on. Then he'd accepted responsibility and gotten a real job. Haley was the first girl he'd really loved, the first girl he felt the need to protect and care for, and he wanted to be able to do it.

And now it seemed like that desire was driving her away.

"I wanted to be here for you but—"

"I know," Haley interrupted. "But work was there. Work's always there." She sighed, sounding resigned, and pushed back a stray strand of hair from her face. "There's leftovers in the fridge and right now I need to collect myself before I'll be able to perform for your father again. It takes a lot of effort to play a worried housewife. Think you can handle your parents while I take a shower?"

He stared at her for a moment, noting for the first time that she had changed. When, he had no clue, but there was definitely a change there. The happy, idealistic woman he had known for so long had given way to someone more subdued. The sharp tongue was still there, he knew from experience, but it was as if something had been taken away from her.

He wondered if he looked the same way to her.

"Nathan?" Haley prompted when he hadn't answered, only stared at her.

"Yeah. Go ahead, take your time."

A corner of her mouth quirked upward as she got up and went to her oak dresser. "Oh, trust me. I intended to."

He laughed at her wicked expression and had the feeling in his gut that he would have a while to catch up on things with his parents. "Hey Hales?"

"Yeah?"

"I am sorry."

He didn't say what for and she didn't ask. In her head, she'd rather just assume it was in general, for everything that had gone wrong between them, and leave it at that. "I am too."


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the night was uneventful. Haley, as promised, took a long, relaxing shower and left Nathan to entertain his parents for a while. When she emerged, feeling finally refreshed, she took a deep breath and walked back out into the living room. She couldn't help feeling like she was walking into a lion's den.

She and Nathan didn't just fall comfortably into the role of a happy couple. They eased into it slowly, awkwardly, and Haley was sure that Dan and Deb could tell that something was off about them. Haley was reluctant to initiate contact between herself and Nathan, so he was always the one to do it… and when he did, she continuously tensed up for at least a second before forcing herself to relax. It was difficult to pretend that everything was perfect, all the while knowing that _nothing_ was as it should be.

By the time the couples went to their respective rooms for the night, Haley and Nathan were exhausted by their efforts.

Unfortunately, they had yet another issue waiting to be resolved before they could go to sleep.

Haley paused and froze within the room as Nathan closed the door behind them. Her eyes were riveted on the king-sized bed before them, her lower lip pulled in between her teeth as she thought about the night ahead. "What are we going to do about this?"

"About what?" Nathan shrugged and walked across the room, stripping off his shirt as he went in preparation for bed. "I thought we did okay with them out there. I mean, we probably looked a little weird to them but it's not like they're experts on how we act around each other."

She expelled a breath and averted her eyes from his half-naked form as he made his way into the bathroom. "I don't mean that. I mean _this._ Sleeping arrangements."

He emerged from the bathroom with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, his chest still immodestly bare, and muttered an almost unintelligible, "I don't see the problem."

"One bed. Two people. And I can barely understand you with that foam in your mouth. You look like you have rabies."

"Thanks." He held up a finger and went back into the bathroom to finish his nightly routine. Sighing, Haley brushed out her hair and sat tentatively on the edge of the bed, waiting. "Okay, why can't we just share the bed?" Nathan asked when he was done.

"Doesn't that seem weird to you?"

"We've done it hundreds of times before," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but we did lots of things before that you can bet your ass won't be likely to happen now." There was an unspoken implication behind that statement, and he picked it up loud and clear.

"Well we already decided that we can't sleep in separate rooms without being found out," he rationalized. "And the bed's a lot more comfortable than the floor is."

She frowned, looking down at the bedspread. He had a point, sure, but the prospect of sleeping in the same bed as Nathan again set off a whirl of conflicting emotions—some of which she would rather not confront anytime soon. Finally she got up, went to her normal side of the bed, and started pulling back the covers. "All right. I guess we'll just share the bed."

He laughed and took his place at the other side of the bed. "Reasonable choice."

Needing to change the topic, Haley voiced another concern of hers. "I think we might need to decide what to do with your parents while they're here. We need a plan. Letting them run rampant around here—especially your dad—sounds like asking for trouble."

"Fine, but can we do that in the morning? I think we could both use some sleep right now."

"Okay." She lay down on the mattress and carefully moved her pillow so that it was only on one half of the bed. "Stay on your own side."

"This coming from the one who always woke up draped across _me_," he chuckled quietly.

"Oh, shut up."

"Good night to you, too." An amused smile was on his face as he clicked off the lights and pulled the covers up over him.

It was hard to drift into sleep that night. Both of them were hyperaware of the others' presence, the sound of breathing, every slightest movement. Nathan could smell a gentle whiff of Haley's shampoo—an odd mixture she found at a small shop that made her hair smell like vanilla and roses, a smell that reminded him of a particular weekend they had spent on vacation in Florida. Likewise, when she turned her head just right she could catch the scent of his aftershave, a very subtle spicy, masculine fragrance.

It may have taken them a while to finally ignore each other enough to fall asleep, but once they were out it was smoother sailing than it had been in weeks.

It was a little after eight when Haley was able to fight her way through the misty haze of sleep. She began to stretch, as was part of her daily waking routine, and immediately her hand came in contact with a soft form. A low groan filled the air and she shrieked, shooting up in the bed with wide eyes and subconsciously pushing anxiously at the body next to her.

"What?" Nathan demanded, sitting up just as quickly and realizing too late that Haley was giving him a hard shove. His right leg slid off the bed and, still half asleep, he couldn't stop himself from tumbling unceremoniously onto the floor, taking the blankets with him. "Oh, shit! What was that, Haley?"

Her heart was beating quickly as she moved to the edge of the bed to look at Nathan. Staring down at her sleepy-eyed husband, Haley began to giggle at her own stupidity. "You scared me."

"I scared you? You were the one who threw me off the bed!" he shot back, rubbing his eyes in attempt to wake himself up a little.

"Sorry? Okay, I'm not really sorry—"

"You _threw_ me off the bed!"

"Actually, I think it's kind of funny," she went on as if he hadn't said a thing.

"You _threw_ me off _the bed!_"

She finally managed to swallow her laughter, but barely. To see Nathan Scott tossed on his ass by her own hand—albeit an accidental move—was just too good. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting anyone to be in bed with me." At his dubious glance, she added, "I had a dream that I was in my apartment and I guess I forgot where I was."

"You're home," he informed her blandly as he climbed back into bed, dragging the tangled blankets with him.

Haley merely shrugged. "Sometimes it's hard to tell where 'home' is." There was a moment of silence while Nathan tried to absorb this information. "So, about how to keep your parents occupied while they're here…"

He blinked and looked over at her, studying her face. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for—answers, maybe?—but he didn't find them there.

"Nathan?" she prompted, aware that he was looking at her as if she'd just grown another head. Well it really wasn't her fault that she'd freaked out upon waking up and she couldn't change it now. "Any suggestions?"

"I don't know. Dad mentioned that he wanted to go golfing, and I'm sure mom wants to go shopping while she's here. What else? Disneyland?"

She snorted inelegantly. Dan Scott at Disneyland? She just couldn't see it. "Perfect. Yeah, that way Dan will take his bitterness out on all the excited little children instead of us. We just better call them in advance so they can rearrange their slogan. I can see it now: Disneyland, the Crappiest Place on Earth."

He grimaced at the thought. It was too early; clearly his brain wasn't working properly. "Okay, bad idea."

"Bad idea," she agreed. "Today we'll see if they feel like shopping. Maybe I should just try to plan out the rest of the week."

"Better idea."

Under some circumstances, she would have been angry at having the responsibility pushed on to her, but not now. Now she saw it as another way to keep herself busy, and that was a good thing. Haley got up from bed and went to the bathroom to clean herself up a bit. Then she walked out of their bedroom, only pausing when Nathan called out a sleepy, "Where are you going?"

"To start breakfast."

"Oh." He rolled over, apparently going back to sleep.

She didn't know why, for a fleeting moment, she had hoped he would offer to help her.


	7. Chapter 7

Someone was already moving around the kitchen by the time Haley got there, which surprised her. As she stepped onto the polished wood of the floor, she prayed that it was not Nathan's father. She knew she wouldn't be able to deal with him peaceably until she'd at least had a cup of coffee.

The smiling face that met her made her so relieved that for a moment she thought she would collapse. "Good morning, Haley."

"Deb, what are you doing up so early? This is your vacation," Haley pointed out, smiling back and going around the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. "Can't you sleep?"

The blonde woman made a face and said softly, almost teasingly, "Don't worry about the room, Haley. It's lovely and I was fine all night but now Dan's snoring and it was like having a lawnmower in bed with me."

Haley chuckled, envisioning Dan Scott laying on his back, mouth hanging open, expelling horrible noises that resembled something like that of a foghorn. It was a good thing that was one of the many traits Nathan hadn't inherited from his father, or else he'd be spending a lot of time sleeping on the couch.

Well, when she was around to be offended by the racket, anyway. "If it would help, we could put you in the other guestroom," Haley offered, stifling what she thought could be mean-spirited laughter.

"Don't joke. I might take you up on that," Deb laughed, taking a seat at one of the stools by the counter.

"It wouldn't bother me, but _you_ have to be the one to explain the change," Haley replied easily. "I can't see myself walking up to Dan and saying that we separated you two on account of his unmanageable noise-making."

"I don't know about that. You seem to handle Dan pretty well on your own."

Haley shrugged her shoulders. It was true that she'd gotten better in her time with Nathan at controlling her anger and putting Dan in his place, but she never looked forward to their verbal sparring. "Sometimes Nathan stands up for himself—for us—and sometimes I can tell he wants to but he's just too tired of fighting. I know it may come off as rude and I'm sorry for that but when Nate won't, I say what's needed."

"I don't think it's rude at all." She did stand up for Nathan in front of Dan, Deb knew that firsthand. When she did it, she was protective and obviously very much in love. Deb studied Haley's face carefully and decided to ask about something that she'd been wondering about since she arrived. "You're really good for him, you know, Haley. You give him strength when his dad gets on his case too much. I wish I could stop Dan from going to far but… you know how he is."

"You're his wife, Deb, not his keeper. You can't blame yourself for what he does."

"I know. I just want you to know I appreciate what you do for Nate and that I think you're wonderful for each other." She bit her lip before slipping in, "How are you two doing? It seemed last night that maybe things were a little… tense."

Haley paused, turning at the counter so Deb wouldn't be able to see her face. So Deb realized that something was wrong… Haley had almost known she would. Nathan underestimated how intuitive and attentive his mom was. It must have been a guy thing. "We're fine. I guess just a little on edge. Both of us have been working a lot lately," Haley lied carefully, hating it every moment. She liked Deb. She didn't want to lie to her.

She also didn't have a choice.

Deb was looking at Haley curiously, but she stayed quiet and instead nodded understandingly. Something was wrong, and for some reason Haley didn't want to tell her what it was. Well, that was her right. Eventually things would become clear. They always did.

Haley started breakfast, chatting idly with Deb about nothing important—nothing that would make either of them uncomfortable. When it was almost time to eat, Haley pounded on her bedroom door to wake up Nathan, knowing that his morning routine took a while to complete, and Deb went to see if she could rouse Dan from his dreamland.

When the women returned, they decided that it would be fun to go shopping for the day and just take it easy because Dan and Deb were still a little tired from the trip. After the food had been placed on plates to serve, Haley told Deb she had to check on Nathan and excused herself from the room. The lies she'd told grated on her nerves and she needed a few minutes to herself to think.

"Nate, I think we have a prob—jeez, do you suddenly have an aversion to wearing clothes?" She lowered her eyes to the floor, concentrating on the clean, wet feet rather than the naked chest and barely covered waist. It was weird, to feel awkward seeing her husband in a towel when she'd seen him in less innumerable times before, but she felt uneasy all the same. They were separated. She wasn't supposed to want to see him nude. Right? Right.

But still, she couldn't help but sneak another peek at the tanned, smooth skin glistening from his shower. Yeah, now she remembered why she had always been spellbound by the man.

Her eyes were on him just long enough to catch the amused twinkle in his eyes as he raked one of their large white towels over his head. "You never complained before."

Haley cocked her head to the side as she looked at him, pushing aside the weirdness she'd initially felt. His bareness didn't seem to bother him in the slightest, whereas if that were her, she would've already screamed and hightailed it back to the bathroom. But, she reasoned silently to herself, he'd always been infinitely more comfortable with his body than she'd been with hers. "You really are something else, you know that?"

"Don't tell me what. I think you'd break my heart."

She had to stop herself from cringing. She had hoped to break his heart once—hoped that by moving out, she would knock some sense into him. It didn't seem to have done her any good. "Give me a break. Nothing breaks your heart unless you let it, and you're not the kind of guy to let anything do that," she commented. She turned and headed for the door with a backward glance over her shoulder, calling, "Get some clothes on. Breakfast's ready and then we're going shopping."

He groaned at the prospect of spending a day following his mother and wife around while they oohed and ahhed at various things they wanted to admire but not buy. "Do we have to?"

"Yes."

"But—"

"No arguing. Just put your cute little butt in some pants and get into the dining room. I'm not entertaining your parents alone again. If you're not out in five minutes, I'll toss up my hands and run out of the house screaming."

She walked out of the room, leaving him with that pleasant image in his head.


	8. Chapter 8

Dan and Deb's behavior at breakfast only reaffirmed Deb's words to Haley that morning; they were both suspicious that something was wrong with the couple sitting before them. Dan's excitement at this impression was almost palpable, and it only served to strengthen Nathan and Haley's resolve to act like everything between them was better than perfect.

After breakfast, the four of them drove to the mall and started walking aimlessly through stores. Besides Deb wanting to find something to take back to Karen, her partner in the management of a café in Tree Hill and Lucas's mom, no one had any item in particular they wanted to buy.

Nathan had to keep himself from whining as they went from one store to the next, his wife and mother doing exactly what he thought they would: looking at things for over ten minutes and then deciding not to buy them. Why did women do that, anyway? If he found something that he liked and wasn't too expensive, he didn't waste time fawning over it and then move on to the next item. He bought it, and that was that. Simple.

Dan was having an even harder time keeping his thoughts to himself, a mistake which earned him more than one glare from Deb.

Because they knew they had to work harder to deceive his parents, Nathan and Haley made an effort to touch each other and act like they had when they'd just gotten married. On some levels, it was hard to even remember a time when they'd been blissfully happy and had time to devote to one another without being weighed down by the stresses of the real world.

In other ways, it was so simple to fall back in time and ignore reality, if only for a moment. They were no longer in the real world, the world in which they had to worry about jobs and bills and fidelity. They didn't have to worry about anything, really, except looking genuinely happy in front of the Scotts, and without the pressures afforded them by their concerns, it wasn't hard to do.

They held hands as they walked from one store to the next, teased each other good-naturedly about various things, exchanged kisses when they were sure to be seen but still appear natural, and when Haley finally did buy something—a black dress that Nathan assured her looked wonderful on her—he dutifully held her bag while she looked at other things.

Surprisingly, the day was going rather well. Haley knew that it was all a ruse, that at the end of the week she would go back to her apartment and unless something drastically changed, when the bet with Dan was over and won she and Nathan would probably get a divorce. She knew that. And yet… as they wandered the mall and really spent time together, she had trouble not wondering what she was going to do if they really did split.

Suddenly Nathan skidded to a stop, pulling Haley to a halt beside him. When she turned to him, ready to ask what the hell was wrong with him, a questioning look on her face, he was grinning widely, like a fat kid in a candy store. Immediately she frowned. This had to be bad.

"Come on, let's go in there." He motioned with their joined hands to the store they were stopped in front of.

Her eyes drifted to the store and flew back to his face. "You're kidding."

"Not at all."

She glanced again at the shop's windows, her brown eyes drifting dubiously over the models scantily clad in lace teddies, and snorted. The sign over the doorway read 'Secret Desires' in what she supposed was meant to be an enticing script. "It's a whore shop," she stated plainly.

"It's a lingerie shop."

"For whores," she reiterated.

He rolled his eyes and started tugging on their entwined hands. "Come on, it'll be fun. Maybe even bring back old memories. Remember our first date?"

She laughed quietly. "Of course. How could I forget?" She had been furious with him over something their friend Brooke Davis said while she was drunk, and Brooke had set up a surprise date for them in which they followed note cards with her directions on them. One of the cards had lead them to a lingerie shop and ordered them to buy something for the other person.

Haley, being the careful conservative that she was, bought him a pair of socks—nice socks, mind you. Nathan, on the other hand, bought her a lovely peach negligee.

Haley shook her head to clear away the memories. "Your parents are right behind us," she reminded him, looking over her shoulder at where Dan and Deb lingered in front of a jewelry shop, admiring what was on display.

Nathan grinned fiendishly. "Exactly. This ought to help convince them we're okay," he whispered to her, squeezing her hand before releasing it and going up to his parents. "Hales and I are going to be in that shop right there." He motioned towards it, seeing the look of mild surprise on his father's face and the smile that touched his mother's lips before he returned to his wife and lead her inside.

"You're so bad," Haley chuckled, reluctantly following him into the tackily decorated shop. Her eyes widened at some of the garish and truly sinful outfits she saw on display. Some of them made her want to turn away with embarrassment. Married life had opened her eyes quite a bit, but she knew she was still by no means some sex kitten.

Nathan glanced back at her and laughed. "I believe you're blushing, Haley."

"Shut up," she muttered, playfully swatting away the hand he laid on her shoulder. Determined to prove that she wasn't a complete wimp, Haley went to the nearest display and started looking over the nightgowns. She continued browsing, feeling Nathan's constant presence by her side, and was surprised to see that not all of the pajamas they had were sleazy. In fact, she actually liked a few of them.

When what she thought was an appropriate amount of time had passed, she turned to Nathan and raised an eyebrow. "I think we've been here long enough."

"Go stand outside."

"Excuse me?"

"Go stand outside," he repeated, giving her a nudge. "Just do it."

Haley frowned but did as she was told, and was met with quizzical looks from Deb. "I don't know either," she admitted with a shrug.

Nathan emerged a minute later with an extra shopping bag in his hands, and Haley's eyes narrowed suspiciously. He merely smiled at her and held out the bag. When she only stared at him, unsure of what to do, he chuckled. "I promise nothing's going to jump out and bite you."

Hesitantly she took the bag, aware that both Dan and Deb were watching them intensely, and peeked inside. A small gasp escaped her throat when she saw what was inside. The pale pink satin chemise she had admired inside the store… she hadn't even thought he'd noticed what she was looking at. "Thank you," she said quietly, raising her eyes to meet his. "It's beautiful."

"Reliving old traditions, I guess."

"But I didn't get you anything."

"You don't have to." Realizing that the three of them were just looking at him like he'd grown another head and that the situation felt suddenly very awkward, he put an arm around Haley's shoulders and propelled them both forward. "Come on. I've had enough shopping to last a lifetime."

And just like that, the moment was gone. But it had been there, and she had the proof in her hands.


	9. Chapter 9

"Everything looks so wonderful here. Do you have any suggestions?"

Nathan looked at his mother over the top of his menu and grinned. The four of them were at one of his favorite restaurants—a small, elegant Italian place not two miles from their house. He and Haley had found the place shortly after they'd moved in and had, earlier on, frequented it. He hadn't been there in a while, but he was nearly salivating just from remembering the way the dishes tasted. "You can't go wrong, mom. Everything's good," he assured her.

"So you come here often?" she asked, seeming pleased.

Nathan glanced over at Haley, who had been surprisingly quiet on the ride over, and met her eyes. She looked beautiful in the black dress she'd changed into after their shopping expedition, and the way the candlelight touched her skin made her look like she was glowing. He offered her a smile that she hesitantly returned and decided that something was definitely bothering her. It was more than likely just his father's presence. "We used to," he answered openly. "Not as much lately."

Haley noted that he didn't bother to mention that it had once been the closest thing they had to a place. They'd never had a song, but this was their unofficial place.

It was also one of the last places she wanted to be. There were too many good memories—she could distinctly remember every detail from the first time they'd been there, beginning with what Nathan had been wearing and ending with the way his arms felt around her as they swayed on the dance floor, more holding each other than really dancing.

Bringing Dan to such a special place was like asking for all those good memories to be ruined.

The waitress, a peppy blonde who freely offered both food and wine recommendations to Deb and anyone else who felt like listening, came and the four of them ordered their dinners. One of the things Haley and Nathan had always loved about the place was how quick the service was. Within minutes, the waitress returned with their steaming plates, all of which emitted tantalizing aromas.

As soon as the waitress had stepped away from their circular table, they started to eat in earnest. There wasn't much real conversation until they'd all had a chance to start their meals, and then Dan looked to his son and daughter-in-law and smiled.

"So you two seem pretty happy together," he observed, his voice giving away that he wasn't completely sure of the truth of his statement.

It was an innocent enough comment, but Nathan knew better. Wherever Dan was going with this, it couldn't be good. Feeling the apprehension growing like a pit in his stomach, Nathan reached out to grasp Haley's hand lightly in his. He gently ran his thumb in a circle over her smooth skin and instantly felt a little more in control. "We are," he affirmed.

"You've been married… what, two years?" he asked curiously.

"Around there."

Dan nodded thoughtfully. "And how's the sex life going?"

Haley choked on her wine, coughing as she quickly put the glass on the tabletop. She'd thought that asking such a thing was beyond even Dan's sleazy nature, but apparently she'd overestimated him. It was weird, because that had certainly never been a problem for her before.

Nathan wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that. Initially he felt shocked and trapped. What would be a normal reaction to that question—if things between he and Haley were normal? How long had it honestly been since he and Haley'd had sex? At least a month, but he sure as hell wasn't about to tell his father that. On the other hand, even if they were making love twice a day, it wasn't something he would want to share with his dad.

When the question had really registered in his mind, he felt angry with his father for bringing up a topic he had been trying his hardest not to think about since he realized that Haley was going to be back in the house with him. All facades aside, their relationship had hit a rough spot and they were taking a breather, which meant no sex. While his mind comprehended that, his body was having a harder time dealing with it.

He hadn't slept with anyone but Haley since they'd gotten together, and he wasn't looking for that kind of a release from anyone besides his wife. Haley was it for him, and when things between them had been good he'd never had to worry about encountering a dry spell. Now he was frustrated and the only thing he could do short of jumping her was wait for things to smooth over and avoid any thoughts that would rile him up.

Why did sex have to come up in the conversation, anyway? They'd been just fine talking about the restaurant and the weather.

"It's… uh, well—"

"Excuse me?" Haley cut in, interrupting Nathan's unintelligible sputtering. "What kind of a question is that? I don't see how it's of any relevance."

Deb was staring at her husband in shock and dismay, praying that she'd heard him wrong but knowing that she hadn't. She could feel her cheeks burning despite the fact that it wasn't her that should have been embarrassed. Where had that question come from? It was rude and, quite frankly, none of his business. She shot Dan a glare and quickly stepped in, hoping she would be able to salvage the evening. "I'm sure that just didn't come out right."

_Thank you, Deb_, Haley silently sighed. They needed to get away from this topic and they needed to do it quickly.

"Dan's just wondering if you two have thought about… about raising a family—if there are any plans for children soon," Deb went on. "Isn't that right, honey?"

_Shit. _This time Haley sighed aloud, feeling like she'd just been hit over the head with a two by four. Children? They'd moved away from one subject she considered taboo to another.

He may have been a bastard, but Dan Scott wasn't a complete idiot. He recognized that tone of voice as a warning and merely shrugged in response.

But to Deb, that wasn't enough. If that horrid question was going to be cleaned up, she wasn't going to be the one to do it. "Right, Dan?"

"Of course," he finally said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh." Nathan let out a loud breath. He didn't believe Dan for one second, but he was relieved that he didn't have to think of a way to answer that one—or see Haley and his father fight about the impropriety of the question. "Well, we've talked about it."

"And?" Dan prompted.

"We both want kids eventually," Haley stated uncomfortably.

"Maybe even soon," Nathan added with a smile.

"But not too soon." Haley blushed and smiled meekly in response to the questioning looks she received from all of the Scotts—Nathan especially. "We're just not sure we're ready yet."

"Of course," Deb responded slowly, her eyes narrowed just a bit. "It's a big step. Something you need to consider carefully."

"Exactly." Haley nodded and picked up her fork, but she couldn't bring herself to eat anything else. Suddenly, she'd lost her appetite and all she wanted was to get away from Nathan's parents.

Of course she wanted children! Even now, when things between her and Nathan were awful, she was vaguely aware of that desire deep in her heart—she supposed it could be called the ticking of her biological clock, but it felt like more than that—to have kids she could protect and raise. Since high school, when she'd first been so head-over-heels in love with Nathan that all she could do was daydream about him and their perfect life together, she's had a dream about how things would work out. They'd buy a house, get married, have a baby, and the three of them would spend lazy Saturday afternoons together at the park, Nathan supporting the giggling child upon his shoulders while she scolded them for forgetting their jackets in the car.

Now it looked like that would never be anything more than a stupid dream and the bitter realization was both stifling and disappointing.

When the soft music in the background changed to a new song, a sweet instrumental, she dropped her fork without thinking and looked to Nathan. "I love this song." She'd actually never heard it before, but that was of no importance. "Want to dance with me?"

"Sure." He stood up and helped her with her chair before leading her to the dance floor, not giving his parents another word. As he took Haley in his arms and held her body close to his, he could feel her tense up. "Relax," he murmured into her hair, dropping a kiss onto her head. "It's just me."

And that was supposed to relax her?

"You're doing great with them," he went on softly, moving his body with hers in time with the music. Only a few other couples were dancing, and he knew that his parents were watching them from their table. "I know my dad was out of line when he asked—"

"Why did you tell them that?"

"What do you mean?"

She tilted her head up so she could look him in the face and found herself flustered by their closeness. "I don't think we're on the same page here, Nathan. You told them that we wanted kids soon and we're not even close," she hissed softly.

"So?" he asked, genuinely confused. "It's just another lie to convince them that we're okay."

"The other lies weren't hurting anyone. Your mom actually wants grandchildren. Her eyes lit up when you told her that, and she'll just be disappointed."

"It's not like we're never planning on having kids," he pointed out. "She'll just have to wait a while."

Wait a while? How could he be so flippant about it? She wasn't sure they would even be married much longer and he was talking about babies? Forget about being on another page, Nathan was evidently reading a whole separate book than she was! "Nate, we're not even living in the same house," she sighed. "Unless you find a way to magically climb on top of yourself and get pregnant, she's going to be waiting for grandchildren a long time."

"While that would be a sight to see, I don't think I'm that talented." He struggled not to smile at the way she always put her twisted humor into what she had to say. "It's not that big of a deal, Haley."

Apparently it wasn't to him, but it was to her. Still, she knew Nathan wouldn't understand where she was coming from and decided to stay quiet about it.

That only lasted a few seconds. "Can I ask you something?"

"Me saying no to that question's never stopped you before."

"Why did you buy me that nightgown earlier? Honestly. Was it just to help the show we're putting on for your parents? Or to confuse me or what?" she inquired in frustration. That act of kindness had been plaguing her mind since it had happened; she didn't know what to think about it and she didn't like not knowing the reason behind it.

He sighed, not knowing how to answer her. Nathan had never been real great with words—that was her forte. He couldn't possibly explain to her that there hadn't been a purpose when he bought her the chemise, just an impulse to do something nice for her. She'd wanted it, so he bought it for her. It was simple. "I wasn't trying to confuse you."

"Then why?" she pressed.

"I thought you wanted it."

"I did, but that's beside the point."

"So you do have a point?"

She hit his arm at the teasing tone in his voice. "I'm being serious and yes, I have a point. Now why did you do it?"

He looked down at her and was surprised to see anger shining brightly in her eyes. "You're mad because I bought you something you wanted?" he asked incredulously, growing frustrated when he saw the positive answer in her expression. "I don't understand women. You're angry when I don't do nice things for you and angry when I do. Does nothing make you happy?"

"Things make me happy," she defended. "You just aren't on the list right now."

Her emotions were having one hell of a ride that day. In the morning she'd had the insane desire to kiss him and spend the entire day in bed. In the afternoon, she'd wanted to hug him for being so considerate. Now she wanted to hit him for being such a blockhead.

Thankfully the song ended before she could act on any of those desires. Instead, she freed herself gracefully from Nathan's embrace and walked back to their table, knowing that he would follow to save face when he may have otherwise just walked away.

Time to go back to being the perfect couple.

Nathan's words reverberated in Haley's head. Her reactions probably did seem contradictory to him, but it all made perfect sense in her head. She didn't like being ignored by him, but it was possible that she liked his sporadic acts of kindness in between ignoring her even worse. At least when he completely ignored her, she knew where she stood with him. When he suddenly did something so sweet and caring, then turned around and pretended like nothing happened, she didn't know what to think.

Haley supposed that what she wanted was stability. If he was going to be a jerk, he should be a jerk all the time so she could move on. If he was going to be someone who actually cared about her, he should do that all the time so they could try to fix their marriage.

She just wished he would hurry up and decide which way he wanted to go.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thank you guys so much for your kind comments. I'm glad you're enjoying this because I had a lot of fun writing it. Oh, and Catwoman, I chose California basically because that's where I live and, since the plot called for a change of setting, I figured I would put it in a place I was comfortable with. )

* * *

The rest of dinner and the following drive home were mostly quiet, with Nathan and Haley lost in confused thoughts of each other. He didn't understand why she was acting so oddly over him buying her a gift and telling his mom that they were planning on having grandchildren _sometime_ and she didn't understand how he could treat such things so nonchalantly. Normal people knew that actions like his had meaning.

Maybe Nathan just wasn't normal.

Dan sat silently on the drive home, thinking over the kids' actions at dinner. There was a tension there that had never been present before this trip, something he was just now seeing between them. He knew he would have to watch them carefully for the remainder of his time in California. The bet had never over the years slipped far from his mind, and he fully intended to call them on it if he thought they were truly losing.

Deb's mind was likewise filled with thoughts of Haley and Nathan's relationship, but she was concentrating on how to figure out what was amiss between them so she could try to fix it before she left.

When they returned to the house, everyone agreed to call it a night and the couples went their separate ways. In their room, Nathan and Haley silently went about getting ready for bed. She showered and changed in the bathroom while he flipped through channels, catching occasional clips of baseball games that had taken place that day.

When she emerged in pajamas, a towel draped over her shoulders, she gave him a small smile. "It's all yours." Dumping her dirty clothes in the hamper, she walked to the door.

Nathan frowned from his spot on the bed. "What's wrong? You're not tired?" he asked, hoping that she wasn't about to launch into another one of her spiels on why they shouldn't be sleeping in the same bed. It had been a fun day but now he was ready to take a shower and get some sleep in preparation for golfing with his father, which had never in his life been a positive experience.

Haley shook her head. "Not really. I was going to call Peyton and see what's up. She always has something interesting to say."

He didn't quite believe her story, but nodded anyway as he got up and grabbed some clean clothes. "Tell her I said hey."

"Sure." She left the room and padded quietly down the hall to the living room, switching on a lamp before getting comfortable on one end of the couch. She didn't think twice before picking up the phone on the end table and dialing a number she knew almost as well as her own.

It wasn't until the familiar voice, groggy with sleep, answered the phone, "You better be dying," that she realized she hadn't thought about the time difference. Peyton lived in New York, so it was already after two in the morning there. Haley herself had spent many nights writing until well past that time, but apparently that was too late for normal people to be awake.

But then, Peyton Sawyer had never been exactly normal in Haley's eyes. Fun, wacky, sometimes impulsive, an amazing artist, a good friend—never 'normal.' Haley had once been unsure of herself around Peyton, who had always seemed somehow worldly compared to her, but years had melted away that awkwardness between them and now the girls were very close friends.

"Did I wake you up?" Even as the words left her mouth, she knew the answer to her question.

"It's almost two thirty in the morning. Of course you woke me up, Haley."

"Sorry."

"Doubtful." Through the connection Haley could hear her friend moving around in bed, muttering beneath her breath to no one about how inconsiderate some people could be. But Peyton wasn't really mad at her friend, and Haley damn well knew it, too. "Why are you making calls at two in the morning anyway? Where are you? Jail?"

"No. Not the apartment, either. Home." She was shocked at how naturally that had slipped through her lips. When she thought about it, since the separation she rarely was able to deduce without a doubt that the house she shared with Nathan was 'home' and she'd even told him so.

But when she didn't let herself think, the answer just came out. Her heart still thought of home as their house.

Peyton's sleep-clouded mind didn't immediately comprehend what her friend was saying. "You're in Tree Hill? Why? Did something happen?"

"No. I'm not in Tree Hill. I'm at the house with Nathan," Haley corrected, "and I really need to vent to someone."

Peyton sat up in bed, now completely torn from sleep. She had known Haley almost ten years. They'd been friends through high school, college, and beyond, so she knew when things were right with her friend and when they weren't. Right now, Haley sounded like things were so wrong it hurt. "Okay, I think I missed something. When I talked to you a few days ago, you were still at the apartment you found. What happened?"

"Nothing. And more than I can explain," Haley sighed, seeping deeper into the cushions of the couch. "Dan and Deb are here for a visit, so I'm here until they leave."

"Ouch." Peyton winced on her end of the phone line. She had known about the bet since high school, but never believed that it would be a problem. She and Nathan went way back and she had never seen him half as crazy about a girl as he was about Haley, so she'd assumed that they would win and Dan would slink off into a corner to lick his wounds.

"No kidding," Haley agreed quietly, keeping her voice down so she didn't alert Dan and Deb. "Nathan and I are trying to convince his parents that we're still together so we're acting like we used to and he's driving me crazy. Peyton, I don't know what I'm doing."

"You're rambling, Hales. Calm down and tell me what's going on."

So she did, starting with the call she'd received from Nathan a few days before and ending with the scene at dinner. "And besides the fact that I'm so fed up with Nathan I could hit him, I feel bad about lying to Deb," she went on softly. "She's always been nice to me and now I'm lying to her face and it just rubs me the wrong way. I hate Dan and that stupid bet."

"Understandably," Peyton sympathized. After a moment of silence she couldn't help but murmur out, "You really must care about him, as dense as he can be."

"What do you mean?"

"You. Stepping up when he needs you. It's more than I would do if I were in your shoes."

Haley rolled her eyes to herself. Peyton liked to make it look like she was a tough girl, but she was a softie underneath the act. "First of all, I don't believe that for a second. And how can you say that? Didn't you hear me complaining about how much I want to _hurt him_ right now?"

Peyton smiled to herself in the dark of her apartment. Haley wasn't ready to admit to herself what she felt, and that was just fine. Maybe it was better, considering that it didn't sound like Nathan was up to acknowledging his feelings yet, either. "Yeah. Maybe I'm still half asleep."

"Right. I should let you go now. Thanks for listening. Sorry I woke you up."

"Haley, wait," Peyton said, her voice suddenly serious. "A lot of stuff's going on with you right now and I wish I could give you some relevant advice but no one can do that at this point. All I can tell you is to try to ignore Nathan's stupidity if you can—remember that he's a guy. Don't let Dan get to you. You're a much better person than he is and if you just last out the week, he'll be gone and you'll be fine."

Haley nodded as she ran her fingers over the edge of the couch, mentally thanking God or whatever other force that had given her this friend. She couldn't even count how many times Peyton had kept her from losing her mind over the years. "Okay. Thanks, Peyton. I'll keep you posted. Go to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah. You wake me up and then tell me to go back to sleep. You're lucky I like you," Peyton grumbled good-naturedly. "Goodnight, Haley. Good luck."

"Night." She pressed the off button on the phone and replaced it in its cradle, then stared for a moment at the blank television screen. Peyton was right. She couldn't let Nathan's confusing behavior or Dan's normal dreadfulness get to her. The most important thing was to keep up the charade for the next week.

With that goal set in her mind, she got up and switched off the lamp before walking back to her room.

She never saw the frame that had appeared in the hall halfway through her conversation, intending only to get a glass of water from the kitchen, and disappeared as silently just before the end of it.


	11. Chapter 11

Deb couldn't believe what she'd heard. They weren't even together anymore. It was all a show, a show put on to save face in a bet with Dan—a bet that obviously meant something of importance to Nathan and Haley. She had known something was different between them, but she'd merely assumed they were fighting. Married couples fought, Deb knew that more than anyone. That didn't necessarily mean things were coming to an end.

And Dan. She couldn't believe him, though she knew that by now she should have long since stopped being caught off guard by the horrible things he was capable of doing. She would never quite understand him. The minute she was almost convinced that he was a complete monster, he stepped up and did something that reminded her why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. But as soon as he'd returned safely to her good side, he started to show his horns again.

How dare he make a bet with his son and daughter-in-law concerning the fate of their marriage? It was a vile thing.

And yet… and yet it sounded, from what Deb had heard of Haley's conversation, that the bet was the primary thing keeping the tremulous relationship together at this moment.

There was love. Deb knew there was love still between the two, heard it in Haley's distraught voice, saw it glimmering in Nathan's eyes when he looked at his wife.

So what _was_ the problem? It wasn't one of the things Haley had mentioned while on the phone, but Deb would have to figure that out before she could help the young couple, and help them she would. Besides the fact that she truly believed in Haley and Nathan's relationship, Dan had gone too far this time and needed to be taught a lesson.

Losing was the worst punishment for a guy like him.

Deb started planning that night before falling asleep beside Dan, every second fighting the urge to reach out and slap him for what he had done. When the morning came, she observed the way Nathan and Haley interacted and a small sort of understanding dawned on her. There was no doubt in her mind that this problem was one that could be—and _would be_—fixed.

The night before at dinner had thrown them both for a bit of a loop, and now Deb knew exactly why. She hoped that hadn't done any long-term damage between them. They acted a little more distant over breakfast, but she could almost see the tension gradually dissipating as time went on.

At Dan's request, the four of them went golfing that day. It was apparent on the drive to the course that the only one truly looking forward to it was Dan himself. Deb had taken up the sport to please her husband and could hold her own, but she was by no means an expert. Nathan honestly hated golfing, and he particularly abhorred the way his father got while playing. The only golf Haley was interested in was miniature golf, so she knew this was going to be an interesting experience.

Dan was the first to go, and he made a performance out of his swing. To the chagrin of everyone else present, his ball went sailing cleanly onto the green. It had been an excellent shot and he wasn't afraid to point it out while Nathan prepared to try his luck.

Silently praying that they all got through the day safely, Haley reached into her purse and fished out a red marker. Then she reached for one of the pristinely white golf balls and got to work.

By the time Dan had taken his eyes away from assessing Nathan's form, Haley had colored half of her ball red. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Stop that. What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Haley looked up and gave him a half smile, more than ready to go head-to-head with her father-in-law. Aside from the bet, he was no threat to her and she wasn't willing to let him think that he intimidated her. Once he had, maybe, but not anymore. "Making it easier to find," she answered simply, continuing her work until the ball was completely red.

"You don't color golf balls to find them—especially _my_ golf balls," Dan gritted out.

"Maybe _you_ don't," she allowed, "but I'm afraid I don't have your wonderful shot or body alignment. I'm going to be looking through bushes for this ball and I want to be able to find it." She capped her pen and slipped it back into her bag with a smile on her face.

Deb couldn't stop herself from laughing as she watched the veins in Dan's neck twitch with annoyance. "It sounds reasonable to me, Dan."

He would have glared at his wife if it hadn't meant moving his death stare from Haley. "Golf is a very disciplined game, and you don't play it with bright red balls. It's a real sport, not your stupid miniature golf."

"No, if it were miniature golf the rest of us would be having fun." She moved past him and went to Nathan, who looked infinitely amused by watching the two go at it once more. Nathan never knew who would get the upper hand. At the beginning of their relationship it had been his father, but it seemed that Haley had gotten tougher since then.

Dan made a move to follow her, ready to give her a piece of his mind, but Nathan interrupted. "Dad, just leave it alone. She makes sense." Then he moved to take his swing, which effectively stopped his father from lashing out at Haley again.

Instead, he began criticizing what Nathan had done wrong.

From behind Dan, Haley shot Nathan a grateful smile and he returned it, sending the sound of his father's voice to the back of his mind.

Deb went next and, while her shot wasn't as good as Dan's, she held her own. Dan didn't bother to comment; he was too intent on watching Haley line up her shot with deeply rooted disgust glowing in his eyes.

She didn't try to beat Dan; she knew that was pointless because she'd never played golf before and she wasn't a particularly athletic person. More than that, she didn't care. Haley lifted the club and simply tried to move the ball in the direction of the hole—which, in her mind, was entirely too far away. In that, at least, she succeeded.

Dan immediately began his critique, and he had a _lot_ to go into with Haley.

"I never claimed to be a golf pro and, honestly, I don't want to be one," Haley interrupted him. "Golf is your strong point, Dan, not mine."

"And what would yours be?" Dan asked, sneering.

"People skills," Nathan interjected, sliding an arm around her protectively. He'd had enough of his father already and it was only a few days into the trip. How everyone was supposed to survive the week was beyond him, but he would make sure that Haley was one of the ones that did.

Nathan and Haley climbed into their golf cart, with Nathan behind the wheel, and looked back at Deb and a rather stunned Dan. "We'll meet up with you when we find where that went." Then he drove away along the course.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: To everyone who has read this story and was waiting (forever) for an update, I owe you guys a huge apology. I'll admit that I did kind of forget about it due to time and lack of motivation, as awful as that is, but thank you so much for hanging around. I really appreciate your comments, and hopefully now I'll be able to finish what I started. I hope you enjoy this chapter! )

* * *

"You didn't have to do that, you know." Haley glanced over at Nathan as he maneuvered the golf cart along the paved roads over the course. His jaw was tight, his lips pursed together tightly so they appeared thin. It was obvious that the altercation with Dan was digging deep for him.

"What do you mean, I didn't have to do it? He was picking apart every fucking thing we did, Haley. He's been doing it the whole time he's been here and he'll keep doing it unless someone says something to make him stop." Nathan's hands tightened around the steering wheel and he forced himself to relax them while he let out a long breath. "I'm sorry."

She studied his profile and found herself wondering what, exactly, had snapped in him. "You're not the one who needs to apologize, Nathan. You didn't do anything wrong. I… thank you for standing up for me. I just wish you wouldn't let him get to you."

Nathan didn't understand why she was thanking him. It was his fault that Dan was there terrorizing her in the first place, and hearing his father lay into his wife so brutally had really pissed him off. Who did the guy think he was, anyway? He had no right to belittle Haley like that. "I don't get how you stay so calm when you're sparring with him," he admitted.

She shrugged, smiling in an effort to lighten the mood. "Lots of siblings—I had practice growing up. Besides, Dan wins when people lose their cool. When you shoot back something like you just did… that's when we win."

"I wish I could keep that in mind. Every time he pulls shit like that I just want to hit him."

That pleasant image flashed through her mind before she could reject it or the smile that crossed her lips, but she quickly threw her mind back in gear. "You do pretty well with him. You'd be surprised."

He looked over at her and smiled. It was a simple thing for her to say, but the compliment inexplicably meant a lot to him. "Thanks."

Haley held his eyes a moment too long, then had to look away. "Uh, I think the ball should be somewhere over there." She pointed to a group of bushes and trees not far off the road, glad for the distraction. It was with a weird sense of foreboding that she saw the large pond that was just beyond the trees. "I just really hope it didn't go into the lake."

"That makes two of us." Nathan pulled the cart onto the grass and stopped it, and they both climbed out to search for her golf ball. Normally he would have teased her about it—the fact that she made them do this because she just couldn't stay on the green—but his father's insults were too recent in his mind, so he stayed quiet while he looked.

After traipsing around in the dirt and greenery for a few minutes, it because fairly clear that they weren't going to have a successful trip.

"I found two white balls and a duck," Haley announced as she emerged from between two bushes, holding up the golf balls. The duck she had merely scared into waddling back to the water.

"Maybe it did go in the lake," Nathan murmured, his gaze drifting toward the water. "I think we'd be able to find a red ball if it were here."

Haley hated to admit that her red ball policy had been outsmarted. She looked from the water to Nathan suggestively, and wasn't surprised when his eyes widened and he shook his head.

"Oh, no. I'm not going in there after it. You can color one of those balls red and say we found yours."

Haley grinned and reached for her purse. After all, his idea was much easier than convincing him to wade through a golf course pond in search of one ball. "I like the way you think." She quickly spread color over the entire ball and tossed the marker back in her purse triumphantly. "All done. I guess we should go meet up with them again?"

He frowned at the idea. "Do we have to?"

She bit her lip as she considered that. "I suppose we could hang around here with the psychotic duck, but I'm sure your dad will hunt us down eventually."

"You think we could take him?"

"Oh, without a doubt, but then we'd be doing prison time."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Nathan took her hand in his without thinking and began to lead them back to the golf cart.

Haley froze momentarily but quickly regained her senses and walked beside him. Her heart did a cartwheel in her chest despite her best intentions and her mind was instantly shrouded in mist. Nathan's hand, so much larger than hers but gentle regardless, slid over hers in a caress before his fingers laced with hers. She waited for the next movement and wasn't let down—she didn't have to wait long. His thumb lightly traced circles over the back of her hand, just like it always had before.

And it sent a shiver down her spine, just like it always had before.

She forced herself to look around, to see if Dan and Deb were within sight, but didn't see anyone. They were alone; the damn duck didn't even see a thing.

So why had he taken her hand in his? It was indisputably an affectionate thing, but maybe he had done it just in case. Maybe he was getting so used to acting for his parents that it didn't seem like anything to him.

When they reached the golf cart and he easily released her hand so she could walk around to her side, Haley convinced herself that it had been precautionary. He was worried about being caught, worried about the bet.

That was all.

* * *

"Nathan, can I talk to you?"

Nathan paused his journey down the hall to turn and lift one shoulder in a half shrug. It was late and he was tired, more than ready to join Haley in bed, but at least it wasn't his father asking for his time. His mother had tried to play peacemaker all day long and he knew it wasn't an easy job; she deserved his time. Besides, he generally enjoyed talking to her as long as Dan wasn't around. "Sure. What's up, mom?"

"Let's go outside," Deb suggested gently, thinking wearily about how far words could travel when Dan Scott was around. He had a habit of picking up on what others least wanted him to hear, something that had annoyed her to no end throughout their marriage.

Pushing aside the fact that they were both in their pajamas and it was almost midnight, Nathan did as she asked and followed her through the doorway and out into the back patio. When Deb turned to face her son, Nathan could see even in the dark night that her face was painted with anxiety. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"I… I know about you and Haley, Nathan," Deb stated bluntly.

She knew. The words and tone in which they were spoken made his heart jump in his chest because he could tell it was true, but he gave a valiant effort at looking confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I know that you two are separated and I know about the bet with your father. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell him about you—this isn't a bet I want him to win," Deb hurried to assure him when she saw the familiar look of panicked disturbance fill his eyes.

"How did you find out?"

"That's not important." Deb shook her head dismissively at his question, sure her hot-headed son would get upset if he knew she'd overheard Haley, but her eyes were compassionate as they met his. "What's important is your relationship with Haley. What happened, Nate?"

That was a question he'd been asking himself a lot lately. Having Haley back in the house and them being together again—if only for show—felt right. It was the way things were supposed to be. "Mom, I don't want to talk about this, okay? Just please don't tell dad about it."

Don't tell dad? Was that all he had to say? How could he be so flippant about it? "Nathan, this is a lot more serious than some bet with your father. This is your _marriage_ we're talking about."

"My marriage will be fine, mom. We're just having some trouble right now."

"Trouble?" Deb repeated incredulously. "Haley's not even living in the house anymore and you don't think this is something more serious than just a little _trouble_?"

He took a step away from her, feeling even her softened voice like a punch to the gut. "Mom—"

"No, Nathan, listen to me. I know that you love Haley and I know that she loves you, but that isn't necessarily enough to make a marriage survive. You need to work on it. Now _something_ must have happened between you two if you're separated, and you never know how long you have to fix things before one of you just decides to give up."

"That's not going to happen."

She shot him a meaningful look, all the while silently praying that he was right. But she had seen resignation in Haley's eyes, a sign that something needed to be done soon. "No woman is going to be happy while her marriage is in limbo. Eventually, she needs a decision to be made. How long do you think Haley is going to wait? Until the bet's over?"

He couldn't force himself to respond.

"Nathan, whatever went wrong, you need to make it right. And trust me, you need to do it soon because that girl is on the point of breaking."

"Did you talk to Haley about this?" he asked quietly.

Deb shook her head and moved to go back into the house. She knew that he needed some time to think about her words and their situation. She had planted the seed of thought in his mind, which was all she could do at this point. "I didn't have to. The pain in her eyes says it all." She went back into the house, laying a tender hand on his shoulder as she did so.

Nathan wanted to go after her, ask her what he should do, but he couldn't seem to move. He knew she was right—Haley wasn't happy. She hadn't really been happy in a while. He tried to think back in time and find out exactly when things had started going downhill, but he couldn't. What if his mom was right and Haley was truly about to give up on their marriage?

It wasn't possible. But if she was… he would have to change her mind.


	13. Chapter 13

It was gloomy when Haley awoke early the next morning, light gray clouds that probably wouldn't drop their moisture edging out the usual morning sun. She cast a look toward Nathan, who was fast asleep with his mouth slightly open, looking completely harmless and—she tried to note dispassionately—adorable. If for no other reason, she did enjoy being back in the house to sleep next to him.

The night before she had been laying in bed when he slid in and—as far as she knew, thinking she was asleep—snuggled up to her back, draping an arm around her waist. It had taken her almost an hour to let herself succumb to sweet sleep, and she still wasn't exactly sure how to interpret his actions.

Haley let herself lay in the bed, perfectly still, for a few minutes before a voice in her head pointed out that she was only torturing herself, after which she carefully dragged herself from the bed. There were things to take care of; the day had already begun and there were, as far as she knew, no plans of action.

When she padded into the kitchen, Haley was immediately met by Deb, who looked bright-eyed and horribly awake. "I think we should have a girl's day."

Haley blinked at her, then shook her head. "What?"

Haley was the closest thing Deb had ever had to a daughter and this gave her a chance to act like a mother as well as giving them time to talk. "I was thinking we could give Dan and Nathan some time together and we could go to a spa and get full treatments done," Deb went on excitedly.

Haley couldn't help but smile at Deb's enthusiasm, but she faced the suggestion with some trepidation. "Why, was Nathan bad?"

The half-hidden concern for Nathan wasn't planned for show, it was genuine and natural, Deb noted with pleasure. "Sometimes sacrifices must be made," she joked. "But I think Nate can handle Dan for a day. Besides, you two'll be getting some time away from us the day after tomorrow."

Knowing better than to hope that Dan was leaving so soon, Haley raised a careful questioning eyebrow. "What's the day after tomorrow?"

"Dan and I have a dinner to go to—business relations of his," she explained. "He just told them yes or we would've let you know earlier. I'm sure I could haggle you and Nathan an invitation but—"

"No, we'll pass on that one, thanks," Haley interrupted quickly, heaving an inward sigh of relief. A reprieve, however brief, from their constant performance was most definitely welcome. "In that case, maybe a girl's day out is in order. You'll definitely earn it." And surely Nathan would be okay on his own with his father for just a day… if she was helping him by keeping up the charade, he could give her a day off with his mother.

"Perfect. I'll make our appointments." Seeing movement behind Haley, Deb fought to keep her curiosity at bay. "And I'll let you tell Nathan."

"Oh, but—"

"Tell me what?"

Haley whirled around to see her rumpled-looking husband standing in the doorway to the kitchen, leaning lazily against the doorframe for support as he tried to wake himself up. A nervous smile immediately touched her lips and, very aware that they were being watched, she crossed the room to greet him with a chaste kiss. Time to act again. "Nothing. Your mom and I were just talking about our plans for the day."

Nathan dropped his hands to Haley's waist, gently keeping her in front of him. Apparently his mother hadn't told her that she knew about the bet yet. He wasn't against keeping it that way a little longer. "Okay… what are we doing today?"

"Well, see… _we_ are going to a spa to be girly girls and _you_ and Dan are going to do… something else," Haley said hopefully, looking at his face carefully to see his reaction. When she saw his jaw tighten, she stepped closer, her body intimately close to his, and went on in a lower voice, "But we have the night after tomorrow to ourselves. Your parents have a business dinner to attend."

He lowered his head, pressing his forehead against hers. "Please tell me you aren't kidding."

Haley shook her head ever so slightly, captivated by his eyes and their proximity. "Nope, not kidding. So you think you can occupy Dan for the day while we're gone?"

He sighed but couldn't say no, not when they were in this position and she obviously wanted it. "I'll figure something out."

Smiling brightly, she stood on her tiptoes to press another kiss, this one longer, to his lips. "Thank you. Besides, we'll probably only be gone a couple hours. And tomorrow we're going to the Huntington Library for a tour and lunch; we're not sticking you with him any more after this, promise."

Deb tried to avert her attention as would be polite, but found herself failing miserably. She watched their interaction with fascination; their love was so deep, their desire to win the bet almost as fierce, she couldn't even hope to tell where the façade ended and reality began.

Haley flashed Nathan another grin, the thought of a relaxing day at the spa getting to her, before she pulled out of his arms. "Go brush your teeth and take a shower, Nathan. You could use them both." She winked playfully at him and then flounced over to the fridge to get things for breakfast before he could reach out and exact revenge.

"I don't know how to thank you for suggesting this."

Deb looked over at Haley and laughed upon seeing the brunette's eyes closed, her face contorted with pleasure under a green deep sea mask as the masseuse worked steadily at ridding her back of its tight knots. "Coming with me was enough. I'm glad you're enjoying this."

"Enjoying is an understatement," Haley sighed in contentment, feeling her body dissolve slowly into putty. "I could die happy right here, right now."

Deb laughed. "I'm with you. No regrets."

A frown settled on Haley's face as she thought about that. No regrets? Well, maybe one or two… dying at odds with Nathan just seemed like it would be wrong. She opened her eyes to see Deb watching her carefully and quickly brought a smile to her lips. "I think I might regret leaving Nathan with Dan," she joked, saying the first thing that came to mind to cover herself. "What do you think they're doing?"

Deb's guess was that Nathan was thinking about Haley, but she wouldn't dare bring that up now with their masseuses present. Initially she had intended to bring it up—it was "girl's day" material, after all—but she had decided after observing the couple that morning that she would wait. Haley was acting on autopilot meant to look to Nathan like acting around both of his parents. Letting her know that Deb was aware of the charade could put that in jeopardy, which could be detrimental since it was more than likely that her real feelings would be exposed during their performance.

Besides, it was strictly a private conversation, one that would probably draw out emotions in the younger woman that she had repressed. At least, Deb hoped Haley would open up to her and allow her to help.

"Some guy thing," Deb said dismissively, closing her eyes to enjoy the massage. "I wouldn't worry about it."

* * *

"Your skills are rusty."

Nathan exhaled a loud breath and tried in vain to block out his father's condescending voice. He tried to concentrate on their game—not because of a real desire to play, but to beat his father and shut him up—but other things, namely Haley, seemed to keep absorbing all his thoughts. That wasn't to say that he didn't still love basketball because he did. When things had been good, he and Haley would shoot hoops in their backyard on Sunday mornings before having breakfast.

Nathan simply hated playing basketball with his father—always had and probably always would. Dan was as competitive and critical, if not more so, than he had been when Nathan was in high school. It was partly due to the fact that Dan couldn't understand why his son had passed up the chance to be in the NBA and instead gone to college and gotten married, keeping basketball as a hobby rather than a career. Apparently since Nathan hadn't gotten Haley pregnant, Dan couldn't grasp their wedding and Nathan's 'sacrifices.'

Despite what Dan thought, Haley hadn't been the reason that Nathan hadn't tried to become a professional basketball player. She had supported anything he wanted to do, but after high school he realized that he had changed. He enjoyed playing much more when it was for fun, and had found things more important to him than winning a game. Being in the NBA wouldn't make him happy like he had once been lead to believe it would.

"Your mind's not on the game," Dan stated, dribbling the ball on the hard concrete. "I suppose I understand that, given what's going on."

He knew better than to ask for an explanation, but he couldn't stop himself from asking anyway. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Dan waited a moment before answering, as if he needed to make sure that Nathan was giving him his full attention. "Well, things can't be going well at home if your wife needs to beg your mother for a women's day so she can get away from you. You've got a lot on your mind right now." He raised the ball and arched it up, smiling when it sailed cleanly through the hoop.

"Haley didn't _beg_ for anything," Nathan argued, frozen in place as the ball bounced harmlessly onto the grass. His father was mistaken. Haley couldn't have done that—not when just that morning they had been so close…

Dan went to get the ball and set up his next shot. "That's just what Deb told me. Haley pleaded with her to find something they could do together that you wouldn't want to do."

"Mom said that?"

"Now don't be mad at her for telling me, Nathan," Dan said, trying his best to look sincere. "She was just worried about how you and Haley are doing together, that's all."

She wasn't the only one…


	14. Chapter 14

When Deb and Haley returned home that night, they found a note scratched out in Nathan's handwriting pinned to the fridge telling them that he and Dan had gone to the local sport's bar. Since it was late, they had already eaten, and they were relaxed, their faces glowing with healthy serenity, the two women decided to call it a night.

Haley awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. She stretched her arms above her head and found herself grinning just because her body felt so good. A glance beside her showed that Nathan was still sleeping, but even in sleep he didn't look like he'd had a good night's rest.

He probably hadn't, she realized with a twinge of guilt. While she and Deb had been having their day of heavenly pampering, Nathan had been subjected to only God knew what from his father.

Haley felt a spark of gratitude toward him and rolled out of bed, intent on making his favorite breakfast as a 'thank you' of sorts. She understood that they were his parents and ultimately it was for his sake that they were putting on this charade, but it hadn't been necessary for him to sacrifice himself for a day so she could relax. She wanted to make sure he knew that she appreciated what he'd done for her.

The quiet groan from the mattress stopped her as she was tiptoeing toward the door. "Good morning," she said, turning on her heel to see him looking at her through sleep-bleary eyes. She smiled and walked back to the bed, perching on the edge of the mattress by his side. "How was yesterday?"

Nathan sat up, still blinking the sleep from his eyes. "Fine."

They were close on the bed, close enough to touch, and Haley could detect the faint scent of alcohol on his breath. "That good, huh?"

"It was fine."

"Nathan, if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen," she offered, knowing that Dan would sense his anger or uneasiness and count it as a triumph if it affected Nathan that day.

He looked at her, the dark eyes that had so many times turned her insides to melting butter for once unreadable, and said nothing for a long moment. Then he pushed aside the covers and stumbled out of bed, his hair mussed and his shorts and T-shirt rumpled. "I'm going to take a shower."

The words had barely left his mouth before the bathroom door slammed shut.

Haley blinked, startled. The cold response wasn't what she had been expecting—anger, sure, but not directed at her.

She reminded herself that he had a reason to be grumpy and that everything was probably just misdirected at her in Dan's absence, then rose and headed for the kitchen.

Inside the bathroom, Nathan braced himself in front of the sink, his arms holding tight to the countertop, and stared at himself hard in the mirror while taking deep breaths. He hadn't done that right, he knew he hadn't done that right, but he just couldn't seem to help it. Snapping at Haley wasn't the way to get on her good side… but he felt so much frustration that he couldn't seem to repress that side of himself.

She had begged his mother to take her somewhere away from him.

He really was losing her.

_No_, he told himself insistently. _You haven't lost her yet. Change her mind. Remind her why this marriage will work._

Determined to do just that, he stripped his clothes and stepped into the shower, hoping to wash away the stress and negativity that plagued him.

Unfortunately, the moment he stepped into the living room and saw his father, that smug look on his face, it all came rushing back to him. Haley wanted to get away from him and his father knew it.

Try as he might, he was cross with Haley all through breakfast, their morning at the house, the ride to the Huntington Library, the guided tour, and lunch. The sympathetic looks from his mother and Haley's overcompensating for Nathan's moodiness only seemed to make things worse because it worked to prove, in his mind, that everything Dan had said the day before was true.

As they left the tea room after lunch, Haley took Nathan's hand in hers and pulled insistently towards the rose garden, answering his sullen look with a one of her own that read loud and clear that they needed to talk. "I think we're going to see what we can find over here," Haley stated, directing her words to Deb, who out of them all would have to understand the undertones of her voice. Deb was a woman, so it had to be a voice she herself had used on more than one occasion.

Deb picked right up on it. "Okay, well I wanted to go see the British Art, so why don't you meet us in that gallery when you're done?"

"Perfect." Haley smiled and began to walk towards the garden, leaving Nathan no choice but to plod along beside her.

The scenery was gorgeous. The day was clear and sunny, and the garden was lit with every brilliantly colored rose that Haley could have imagined into existence.

If only she could allow herself to relax and enjoy it all.

After casting an anxious look over her shoulder to make sure they were alone, Haley turned concerned eyes to her husband. "What's wrong with you, Nathan? What did Dan do to you yesterday?"

"_Nothing_, Haley. We just played some ball," Nathan said. "Of course, you'd know that if you'd been around."

"What?"

"I just mean that maybe things would have been better if you and mom hadn't been off getting facials."

She froze, her lips turning down in a frown at his harsh tone. Confusion didn't even begin to cover what she was feeling. "Yesterday morning you said it was okay that I go out with your mom for a day," she pointed out.

"How do you think the fact that you wanted to be away from me looked to them?" he demanded. His eyes were stormy as they fixed on hers in an angry stare. "Not exactly the picture of the happy couple we want to give out, Haley."

Her eyes narrowed when she saw something else floating around in the darkness of his eyes—hurt. Immediately she realized that whatever was bothering him went beyond the image they presented to his parents. What the hell had Dan said to him the day before? "Nathan, me going with your mom had nothing to do with me wanting to get away from you. Deb was the one who suggested it, and I thought it would be something fun I could do with her. I'm sorry if Dan thinks otherwise. I'll make sure Deb corrects him."

"You weren't the one who brought it up?"

"No, your mom thought a _girly day_ would be fun, and it was, except apparently the consequences of taking a day off completely suck."

_Deb was the one who suggested it_. It took a second for that to register in Nathan's mind, but the moment that it did he felt the tension that had plagued him all morning immediately ease up. Here he was thinking that his wife was desperate to escape him and it was all the work of Dan's lies.

He exhaled loudly in relief before noting the stung look on Haley's face. A knot in his stomach formed; he had been curt with her all morning and she hadn't done anything to deserve it. If anything, it was probably his behavior sending red flags up in Dan's mind while he unfairly hurt Haley.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, feeling his heart sink when she just looked at him blankly. "My dad just… he said some things that got me worrying that maybe you were trying to get away from me and I know I shouldn't have let him get to me but I guess I did."

"Of course I wasn't trying to run away from you, Nathan. That doesn't make any sense. You should have come to me about it before you went around trying to bite off my head."

"I know I should have, but I freaked out. The thought that you were dying to get rid of me hurt and I acted stupid, trying to make you feel the same way. I'm sorry, Haley."

She studied his face and, noting the sincerity, managed to shake off the apology. Was this what had driven them apart in the first place? Work had played a large part in their separation, sure, but a lack of trust had been an underlying factor in the past few months. "It's fine," she sighed quietly, looking away in disappointment at her revelation. "Let's just forget it."

"No," Nathan objected, seeing that behind Haley's forced smile she was upset—and rightfully so. When she started to walk away, headed in the direction of the British art exhibit, he sighed and went after her, wondering exactly how much more he could possibly screw things up. "Haley—"

"I just have to know," she interrupted, whirling to face him so that he nearly barreled into her, "do you really trust Dan's word over mine? I mean, does it really seem likely that he would tell you the truth concerning our relationship when he's been against it since we got together?"

"Well it wouldn't have been the first time that you left to get away from me."

Haley's mouth dropped open in shock, more taken off guard than she would have been if he'd clocked her in the jaw. Thankful that no one else was around, she balled her fists at her sides and hissed back accusingly, "Like you weren't dying for me to get out of the house by the time I left!"

"Of course I wasn't!"

Her mouth, open and ready to fire out a comeback, snapped shut and she found herself without words. She'd been gearing up for a battle but the building white-hot rage had just been completely extinguished by confusion. What?

This wasn't how or where he wanted to have this conversation with her, but it would have to do. His mother's words of warning were ringing in his head, a constant source of internal encouragement. "I know that things got messy but I never wanted you to move out," Nathan told her honestly, taking advantage of her silence. "I guess that's why I freaked out at what my dad said. I thought we've been getting closer this week and you retreating again… it was like we were going backwards."

"Nathan, I… wow." Haley immediately realized how stupid her words were, but her mind was going a thousand miles an hour on too many other things to care how she sounded. "We were driving each other crazy."

"We always drive each other crazy."

If her mind hadn't been so clouded, she would have laughed at that, if only because it was true. The lingerie and all the little things that he had done for her over the last few days spun around in her head. Had those things, some of which her heart had wanted so badly to believe were genuine, been real or part of the act? "But—"

"Nathan!" Both Haley and Nathan turned at the voice to see Dan standing at the far edge of the garden, an impatient look on his face as he shaded his eyes from the sun with a hand. "Come on, your mother wants to get to the other exhibits."

"Afraid your ugly lies are coming to the surface, Dan? Too late," Haley murmured quietly as Nathan waved at him to indicate that they were coming.

"I guess we'll have to talk about this later," Nathan observed in annoyance. The discussion about the fate of their marriage wasn't one that he really wanted to put on hold, but they didn't seem to have much of a choice.

Haley, for her part almost grateful for the temporary reprieve that would give her time to think through their conversation, nodded her head and managed a shaky smile at Nathan. "Yeah, we will."

And when they finally got the time, there would certainly be a lot to go over.


	15. Chapter 15

Because of the need to be good hosts to their guests, Haley and Nathan didn't have private time to themselves until the next day, when Dan and Deb left them for their social engagement. Until then, the young couple had to work twice as hard to make things seem normal.

When the front door slid shut the next afternoon and the sound of the car starting and pulling away from the house could be heard, Nathan finally let out a long breath of relief and turned away from the door, his eyes naturally searching for his wife. He found her on the couch in the living room, her legs drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees, a worried expression on her face. As absurd as it was, one of the first things he noticed about her in that moment was the flash of bright red on her toes and how suiting it was on her.

"I never realized how hard this would be," Haley said, her voice quiet, as if she were still hiding from Dan's inquisitive ears even though he had left. "I mean, I knew when you called that we would be lying and pretending, but I don't think it fully registered that we would be pretending to have _something we had before_. It isn't as fake as it sounds, is it? Because the us we want them to see really _was_ us, it's just not anymore."

Nathan sat heavily on the couch, keeping a small amount of distance between them. What could he say to that? She was right. Once they had been as happy as they were trying to look now. It was painful that it was no longer reality. "Why isn't it us anymore?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from dropping in desperation.

Haley's head snapped up and her eyes met his, dark and helpless and confused. "You know why, Nathan…"

"No, I don't," he told her honestly. "I couldn't even tell you when everything got so bad between us. It just… did, and then you were gone."

She took a deep breath, knowing that she should talk to him but wondering if it was even worth it. Was their relationship still fixable, or would laying her feelings out only be asking to get her heart trampled on all over again? "Nathan…"

"No, Haley, tell me," he encouraged her. "We agreed that we would talk about this and I think it's important. What happened to us?"

"_That_, Nathan. _That_ happened," she finally said, feeling her calm ebbing away as frustration took over. "There's a reason that you don't know what went wrong. It's because you were never here anymore! You started spending all your time at work, from before I woke up until it was almost time to go to bed. You talk about how I tried to escape you when I moved out, but you'd been running from me for months before I left. I almost never saw you and when I did, we fought about stupid things!"

The fact that she thought he had been trying to get away from her shocked him and, quite frankly, stung. "Haley, that was work. It had nothing to do with you."

"Maybe not, but it had everything to do with _us_," she countered hotly, feeling the juices flowing through her veins now. If he wanted to hear the truth, hear how she'd felt all along, he would. "How was I supposed to stay when you were always gone? Do you have any idea how much the empty house hurt me? I didn't know if you were seeing someone else or—"

"What are you talking about?" he interrupted incredulously. "You know I never cheated on you."

"Then what? Did you just get tired of me?" she demanded, her heart in her throat with fear of his answer. God, if he said that was their problem, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep herself from breaking down. This was exactly why she hadn't wanted to let herself get caught up in this whole charade in the first place, but now she found herself unable to stop. She needed to know.

To her surprise, he stared at her with open astonishment. "What the hell are you talking about, Haley? Of course not! My work was for us."

"You work was killing us," she argued, shaking her head.

The pain on his face was so evident that for a moment Haley wished she could take back the words, truthful though they were. Nathan was silent for a moment before he replied, "I worked so much because I wanted us to be able to afford good things. Me working helped give us the lives we know."

"And look how that's worked out, Nathan. We had a nice house and cars and could pay the bills on time, and we were miserable," she said softly, realizing for the first time what he had been doing all along and, she thought, why. In his parents' relationship, money had been a key factor. Deb's father had given Dan the money necessary to start his company, and therefore had been the root of his success. When things went wrong between them, Dan relied on money to right things.

Come to think of it, Haley realized, Dan had done it to Nathan, too. When they were in high school and Dan would be a jerk, he would resort to gift-giving to get back into his son's good graces. Haley remembered the black Mustang convertible that had probably been her favorite of the many 'forget Dan was an asshole' gifts.

But this was different from that, and Nathan needed to understand that. "I never cared about what you could buy me. You being home with me was a thousand times more important than being able to splurge when I went shopping or show off some fancy new toy. I'm not all that interested in expensive things."

Nathan knew that, of course, but still struggled to grasp it. He knew Haley had never been much into material things. She wasn't high-maintenance or snobby or stuck up; she had grown up in a big family that got by fine but wasn't by any means rich, and she was happy with that. That didn't change the fact that he wanted to give her the best life he could. "I wanted to be able to give you what you wanted."

The simple, honest tone in which he spoke made her heart tighten in her chest. "I know. But what I wanted most was you at home with me. Not yelling because you were stressed out from work and not shut up in the study on the phone."

"You worked a lot, too."

She thought about that and then nodded, slowly. "You're right. I worked more when you started to, but before that I probably was still at the office too much. But it wasn't because I wanted to see Randy and not you." That was a bone that needed to be buried; her interest in her editor was and always would be purely academic.

"Cassie's just my secretary, nothing more," he assured her reciprocally. He'd always found her distrust of Cassandra illogical—why would he be looking at her when he had Haley?

There was a long lull in conversation while they both paused to process what had been said. Finally, sounding hurt, Nathan broke the silence. "Can I ask you something?"

Looking at him over her knees, she nodded. "Sure."

"Why do you think I called you when I found out my parents were coming?"

"The bet," she answered simply, "I know it was the bet."

"No," he shook his head, wondering how he had failed to make her see. Well, not anymore. Tonight they were going to get everything out in the open, and what happened would happen. Nathan could only hope that he liked the result. "I panicked because of the bet. I called you because I knew you would help me. No matter what's going on between us, it seems like you always help me, and I appreciate that. I know I can count on you, if no one else. And maybe I didn't always make that clear enough."

Haley smiled then, a slow, surprised smile that eventually lit up her face despite the situation. One of her greatest goals had been to always be there for him. That, at least, she seemed to have succeeded in doing. "Thank you. For telling me that."

"I mean it."

"Maybe that was another part of it," Haley mused thoughtfully. "Maybe we both took each other for granted."

"I'm sorry."

"Me, too." She gave a small smile, a peace offering of sorts, but her mind was already turning in new directions. Okay, so they had acknowledged some of their big problems. That didn't mean that they would just disappear, or, she realized, that they both necessarily wanted them to. They were talking about why things had gone sour, but what did that mean? How did he feel? Hell, she barely knew how _she _felt.

And it was then that she realized that, though they had made progress, there was still some things that needed to be said, feelings that needed to be expressed, emotions that needed to be explained. What was this for them? A step towards making up or a final reconciliation before they said goodbye?


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note** : I know, I know, it's been a _really_ long time since I've updated this story. I'm sorry! I'm a bad person. If you want to throw fruit at me, I'll understand. I don't even know if anyone will still be interested in this, but I found myself thinking about it the other day, and then I went back and saw all of you who had left such wonderful encouragement here and I realized that I have to get this done. Thank you so much for your comments, believe it or not they do help(I wouldn't have gotten this one out if it hadn't been for you, that's for sure). I promise it won't be so long before I get the next chapter up!

"So what do we do now?"

Haley opened her mouth to reply, but only a sigh escaped her lips when she saw his imploring gaze on her. He was looking to her for an answer to their problems, but she honestly didn't have one for him. What now? They could continue to drift apart and head for divorce or they could try to fix things. One was decisively easier than the other, but it sounded like hell. The other would be tiring and long and hard, and it could still fail. But if it worked, the rewards could more than make up for the battle.

"I don't know," she finally stated honestly. "What do you think we should do?"

There was a considerable pause and then Nathan sighed softly. He hadn't ever truly considered losing her an option, though he saw now that it was a very real one. "I'm not a quitter, Haley."

It was a poor choice of words on his part. "Ending it is not about _quitting_, Nathan, it's about our entire lives. You don't stay in a marriage if you're unhappy just because you don't like the thought of giving up," she cried out. If that was the only reason he would stay with her, she would rather that he leave. Staying together, miserable but fighting an uphill battle, was not good enough for her.

Silently, he cursed himself. It was happening again; he knew exactly how he felt—his insides were fairly screaming with opposition to the thought of a permanent split—but expressing himself without putting his foot in his mouth was a daunting challenge. He didn't want to say the wrong thing and give the wrong impression. "I know. I didn't mean that…"

"Well, what _did _you mean?" she demanded, her voice taking on a desperate quality despite her resolve to keep her composure. God, she was going to fall apart right there on the couch. She could already see it happening in her head—the tears, the sobbing, the babbling, the look of panic that would enter his eyes when he realized that he'd finally broken her.

Nathan hesitated, searching inside for the right words. Haley was right, this was the rest of their lives they were talking about. It was time for him to face reality and do what his mother had encouraged. He couldn't mess it up, and he couldn't afford to hold back because he was chicken, worrying about what her reaction would be if he finally laid himself out on the line. Maybe that was what had been missing for so long, anyway. At the start of their relationship, he'd fought for her—fought his father, his friends, what had been considered the social norm. He'd thought, by working and building a life for them, that he'd still been fighting, but now he could see that she hadn't seen things that way.

He needed to keep her in his life, no matter what it took. He hadn't been lying when he said she was the one he ran to when something was wrong in his life—which was perhaps why their problems had gone on so long. He hadn't been able to run to Haley when his uncertainty regarding her was his problem, so he'd pushed it to the back of his mind. It was time for that to change. "You're right, Haley. It's not about quitting. It's about what we want, what makes us happy. And we haven't been happy together for a while now."

Her eyes slide closed to block the tears from falling even as she nodded her head, a silent acceptance of something she didn't think she could verbally respond to. So this was really the end. How was it that it was still such a blow, after everything they'd been through? She'd been expecting it, even since before she moved out she'd been expecting it, and yet…

And yet she'd always entertained the hope that things would be put back together, that she'd have her happy life again. To have that hope blown to shreds was the most painful thing she'd ever experienced.

"I want to change that. I want to fix it."

Suddenly, her eyes flew open, unmindful of the lone tear that escaped and started to trace its way down her cheek. His eyes, when they met hers, were fiercely intense. "What?" The surprised word was little more than a croak from her throat, the confusion written across her face. He wanted to fix it? But he'd just said…

"I don't want to give up, Haley. Not because of the bet, and not because it would be quitting. I just… we were happy before we screwed everything up," he pointed out. "If we figured out what went wrong, we could fix it. We could be us again."

For a moment, she didn't even know how to respond to that. She thought she'd just been given a staggering blow, only to be yanked back up again. Oddly enough, it almost made her want to smile. It was so classically Nathan, fumbling with words, that it would have been funny had it not scared the hell out of her. Then the words really sank in and registered in her mind, and her stomach felt so muddled that she feared she'd be sick. He wanted to fix things. What did she want?

_Nathan_. The mental answer was swift and powerful. Maybe for a while she'd been able to convince herself that she could be on her own and be happy with her apartment and her work, but her time pretending with him had convinced her of otherwise. He might have hurt her and driven her crazy when they were together, but he was still the guy who would hold her hand and stand up to his father for her and buy her something impractical because it would make her happy. And he was still the only man to make her heart pound and her insides turn to mush. She had knowingly put herself in this hellish charade for him, and that had to mean something.

She wanted _them_ but she was still so afraid of trying and failing _again_. "How do you know we can do it?" she asked quietly.

"I just do," he answered, his lips curving up into a smile that seemed more confident than he truly was. Really, he was experiencing a fear that rivaled anything he'd ever felt in his life. "We'll figure something out, Haley. I can cut back on my hours at work, maybe hand off a few of the clients I'm working with." He reached out to take her hand in his, was relieved when she didn't tense up or try to pull away but instead laced her fingers with his.

The feel of his larger hand in hers was comforting. It made her feel, as much as his words did, that he was right. They knew, at least to some degree, what had gone wrong now and could work on it. Their relationship deserved the effort. "I can stop taking all the extra stories I've been volunteering for," she offered, using their connected hands to give him a gentle pull in her direction.

His grin widened as relief spread through him like a tidal wave. Without needing any more encouragement, he moved over so that the space between them was minimal. "And we'll talk this time when something's wrong. We won't let it happen again."

"We can have weekly dates, like we used to," she suggested, getting into the idea of it now.

"Deal," Nathan replied, lifting their joined hands to drop a kiss on hers.

Haley smiled. She was no longer so idealistic as to believe that they would be able to fix everything right away, but at least it seemed possible. If they tried, if they made sure they had time together to talk and laugh and have fun like they used to, they had a chance.

And, after a long time of wondering helplessly what they were going to do, that was enough.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: You guys are the epitome of patience if you're still into this story. Thanks so much for the reviews and encouragement, they serve as a nice kick in the butt when I go completely remiss in my writing. I hope you guys enjoy this one… you definitely deserve it!

Haley had been prepared for a quiet evening at home to recuperate a little from the past few days, a time to recharge her batteries for the next round against Dan. Nathan, however, had a completely different idea in mind. They were finally alone and making progress, and he wanted to do something fun, something they'd remember no matter what ended up happening.

When he suggested that they get out of the house, she eyed him curiously but said she was up for it. She didn't ask what he was planning, and had the distinct impression that he wouldn't have told her even if she had. He had that look in his eyes—the one he'd had when he took her miniature golfing the first time, and when he'd surprised her with a weekend trip to the mountains, where he'd tried, rather unsuccessfully, to teach her how to ski. Haley experienced the familiar flutter in her stomach that always came with the realization that, whatever he was about to do and however it turned out, Nathan was doing it because he thought she'd enjoy it. Because he cared, and she mattered.

It was enough to make her grin as she went to their bedroom to get her shoes and a sweater.

They didn't speak much in the car, but it was a comfortable, easy silence broken only by one of Haley's CDs providing quiet background noise. When Nathan reached over to take Haley's hand in his free one, she turned to give him a smile and gently squeezed back.

She was even more delighted when he pulled into the parking lot of the park that was a little more than ten minutes from their home. They'd spent many mornings there together since they bought the house, just walking around when it was still cool and empty. Now, in the late afternoon, there were a few people milling around, but it was close enough to deserted that it felt the same.

As he parked the car, Nathan sneaked a look over at his wife and was relieved to see the childish excitement on her face. "I think we've been serious adults enough for a while. We deserve some fun."

"I agree. This is awesome, Nathan." She was nearly bouncing on her feet as she got out of the car, and felt a little silly for being so pleased with a simple adventure. But it was special, she reasoned. It was important. "You brought food!" she exclaimed in surprise when he pulled their old, slightly scarred wicker picnic basket from the backseat.

"Of course I brought food," he replied with a grin. "What kind of picnic would it be if we didn't have food?"

"A pretty lame one," she admitted, laughing. "And I'd be pretty grumpy in about ten minutes, because I was too nervous to eat lunch and I'm starving."

He loved that she was honest enough to say that, and it put him more at ease. Thank God he hadn't been the only one going out of his mind before his parents finally left and gave them a chance to talk. "Then let's find the perfect spot and we can eat."

"Sounds good."

The perfect spot turned out to be not at one of the picnic tables and benches but underneath a large oak tree, where only a few feet away little purple flowers sprung up among the grass. Haley watched, impressed with his foresight, as Nathan pulled a large blanket out of the basket—one of her grandmother's quilts, but she wouldn't complain about that now—and spread it out on the ground.

They stretched out on the blanket, resting next to each other with their backs against the tree trunk, and started to take out the food. The lunch was obviously hastily thrown together, and consisted of pretty much anything Nathan had been able to toss into the basket while Haley had been putting on her shoes. He'd brought real silverware instead of the plastic ones she kept in the drawer, and since they lacked plates they ended up eating out of the containers she'd stored the leftovers in. Personally, she thought it was wonderful.

As she set down her water bottle, Haley glanced over at Nathan and smiled contently. "So what's new with you, anyway? It feels like it's been so long since we've had time to really talk."

He ran a hand up and down her arm, as if soothing away the words that, though true, were painful. "It does," he agreed. "I don't know. I mean, I've got a couple new accounts at—" He trailed off, uncomfortable with the topic that had hurt them so much. "I heard that Jim and Megan next door are fighting. From what Michael across the street says, he's thinking about asking her to leave."

"That's too bad, I hope they work it out." She paused, absently playing with the blanket, and then chuckled. "You are all such gossipy girls. I swear you gossip more than the women do on our block."

"Hey! I was just checking to see what was going on," he defended himself with a laugh.

"Sure you were." She smiled up at him playfully. "You don't have to do that, you know."

"Do what?"

"Not talk about work at all," she replied. "It's a big part of your life, what you do during the day. I want to know what's going on with you, and that's a part of it."

"But it's just… what it's done to us—"

She shook her head, effectively cutting him off. "We let it get out of control, Nathan, and that was our problem. Until we're old and retired or we win the lottery, work is going to be there. We don't have to pretend it doesn't exist, we just have to… be here more, with each other."

"Okay." Obviously still cautious, he began to tell her about his newest client. When she reacted with honest interest, he loosened up a little. They discussed the work he'd done recently, the problems he'd encountered and the way he'd handled them, and then her work—her stories, her ideas for future pieces. He didn't bother to tell her that he scanned the papers constantly to check for her work and had read every article of hers published. There were a few awkward moments, namely at the mention of either Cassandra or Randy, but it was still _them_, like the way they'd been before.

It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was a step in the right direction. Sitting there with him, Haley could remember why she'd fallen in love with him in the first place. He could be funny and insightful and sweet, and when he relaxed around someone and really let his walls down, he could make them feel nothing short of amazing. After being away from him so long—emotionally if not physically—it was a rush to feel that way again, a pleasant blast from the past.

There was a hint of nerves in her stomach, the reminder that maybe she was making a big mistake by opening herself to him again. She had her apartment and had started to move on. Trying now and failing would be a huge setback.

She didn't care. It was worth it.

Nathan had put himself on the line when he told her that he wanted to try rather than give up. Haley figured that maybe she, too, could take a little leap of faith. Grinning, she pulled herself up from the blanket and looked down at him expectantly. "Come on."

"What? Where are we going?" he asked in confusion. Still, he didn't protest as she grabbed his arm and helped haul him to his feet, nor did he argue when she lead him into the sand of the playground area.

Haley turned her head just enough to shoot him an irresistible grin. "We're going to be kids again."

True to her word, they went adventuring in the empty playground like children who'd been granted a brief reprieve from school. They tried to outdo each other on the swing set, a contest that Nathan clearly won, but Haley insisted it was only because he had a longer body. A quick trip on the see-saw had them roiling in laughter even though there wasn't much actual movement, and Haley almost split her sides laughing when Nathan almost got stuck on the little kids' slide.

After they had enough sand in their shoes, they went back to the blanket and sat down against the tree trunk, Nathan holding Haley to his chest from behind while they enjoyed the cool breeze. "This feels nice," she whispered, snuggling into the warmth he offered her.

It did, Nathan realized. It felt wonderful to be sitting here, with his wife curled against him. It felt right.

"Nathan?"

"Yeah?"

She looked up at him, her chin resting on his chest. "I missed you."

His smile was warm and boyish, the smile that always seemed to hover somewhere between shy and sexy. "I missed you too, Hales." When their lips met, it was a sweet kiss, a kiss of remembrance, as if they were learning the taste of each other all over again.

It was also a promise of something to come, something more.


	18. Chapter 18

Nathan awoke early the next morning to the distinct impression that it was going to be a good day. Haley was curled up against his side, her arm thrown over his chest and her breaths coming in the deep, even sighs only achieved in deep sleep. Eyes still fuzzy, he smiled at her peaceful expression and gently pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen over her cheek.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was aware of the fact that his parents were still in their home; not exactly a recipe for delight, but a much less frightening concept when he and Haley were on more stable ground. Besides, they hadn't even returned by the time that he and Haley went to bed—which offered them some much-needed alone time—so they were somewhat rejuvenated. Together they could handle Dan.

He climbed out of bed gingerly, careful not to wake his wife, which was no easy feat with the way she tended to naturally cling in her sleep. A minute later he was out of the bedroom and on his way to the kitchen. Before the separation he'd sometimes surprised Haley by cooking her breakfast. He thought it would be nice to do that again, especially given all that they'd been through lately.

Nathan was in the middle of making pancakes when he heard the quick knock on the front door. He looked from his freshly poured batter toward the door, and sighed as he jogged over to see who it was. This better be fast, he had some cakes to flip…

Randall Sumners was the last person Nathan had expected to come around his house ever, much less early in the morning. And on a day when Haley wasn't even working, no less. Instantly he stood up taller, using his height as a natural advantage as he glowered down at Haley's editor. Surely he knew that he wasn't welcome there.

To his credit, Randy didn't take a step back in the face of that glare, though that was his first instinct. Although he'd known it was a possibility that Nathan would answer the door, when he'd run through the scenario in his head on the way over it had always been Haley who greeted him—smiling, sweet, pretty Haley. Her scowling husband was a rather unpleasant disappointment.

"Randy," Nathan said, his voice neutral despite his desire to shut the door in this guy's face. Haley said nothing was going on between them, and Nathan believed her about that. He knew now that she wasn't interested in this guy. That didn't change the fact that Randy was in love with her; it was written all over his face, even right now. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to see Haley," he replied, shifting a plain white envelope between his hands in a telltale sign of nerves. "I went to her apartment but she wasn't there…"

Nathan clenched his jaw at the thought of him in Haley's apartment, a place that he himself had only seen once, and then only from the outside. He'd followed her there one night, unable to resist the need to know where she was living when she wasn't with him. It had been a relief to find that it was in an area that was nice and safe, and he hadn't returned.

"She's still sleeping," he announced, his mouth quirking up at the corners just a bit at the statement. Because he was answering the door in nothing more than sweatpants, his feet and chest bare, he knew the impact that his words would have.

Randy looked distinctly uncomfortable, and cleared his throat before insisting, "Maybe I could wait? I've got some news I'd like to give her."

He eyed the envelope and raised an eyebrow. "I could give that to her when she wakes up."

"I'd really rather be the one to let her know personally."

"Then send her an e-mail," Nathan suggested.

"It's the kind of thing you tell someone in person." At Nathan's disbelieving look, he explained, "It's exciting news. About her book."

"Her book?" _What _book?

"You didn't know she's been working on a novel?" Randy asked, feigning shock. Given what he'd heard about their relationship of late, he wasn't surprised, but it was nice to have something to rub in wonder boy's face. "That's funny. She's been working so hard on it, for months. Well, we both have. I've been helping her with it. She didn't tell you?"

Nathan shrugged it off, acting as if his words meant nothing when really they struck him like a fist in the gut. A book? She'd written a book without him ever knowing? She must have been so excited, so nervous—though she loved writing at the newspaper, it had always been a dream of hers to write a novel. Oh, she'd played it down to most people, insisting that she'd never have the time or the skill to complete such a task, but Nathan knew that it had always been on the backburners of her mind. And now she'd done it. Without him. "Must have slipped her mind. We've been a bit busy," he commented easily, and hoped that his feelings weren't written clearly across his face.

"Right, right. Mending fences," Randy replied with fake sympathy. "Sounded like you had a whole lot of holes to patch up."

"Don't worry, we got it all covered."

Roused from sleep by the sound of voices and the distinct smell of charred food, Haley followed her ears to where Nathan was leaning against the front door. Dressed in one of Nathan's shirts and a pair of pajama bottoms, she was grinning up at him as she slid her arms around him from behind. "Hey, what's going on? Something's burn…ing," she finished lamely, her voice trailing off in surprise when she saw who was at the door. Quickly, she glanced from one man to another, picking up on the tension that was near stifling. "Hi, Randy."

It disgusted Nathan to see the way the other man's face lit up at her. "Morning, Haley."

"Uh, what are you doing here?" she asked, stepping out so that she was next to Nathan in the entryway. Because she could tell he was annoyed—and, given the misgivings he felt about her editor, rightly so—she reached out to take his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. The slight pressure he gave in return made the sudden knot of apprehension in her stomach ease just a bit.

"I have something to tell you. I just got the news, and I had to do it in person." He held up the envelope, his green eyes bright. "Know what this is?"

"Recycled material?" she guessed with a wry smile.

He laughed, shaking his head. "Not exactly what I was going for. Let me give you a hint: it's about your book."

"Really?" she cried out, surprising herself with the pitch of her voice. Her eyes narrowed in on the envelope, and she bit her lip. "From the publisher?"

"Yup."

She had to hold in a squeak of enthusiasm. "Is it good news?"

"Do you really want to know?"

She reached out to hit him on the arm. "Of _course_ I want to know!"

Randy paused, wanting to build the anticipation. "It's _great _news, Haley! They loved it. Absolutely loved it."

Unable to believe his words, she grabbed the paper from his hands and quickly read the words on the sheet inside. As the paper fluttered to the ground, she let out one loud, disbelieving breath before allowing herself to be swept into a congratulatory hug by her editor.

The bastard looked smug, Nathan noted, and he wanted to reach out and strangle him. But more than that, he wanted to be the one that she hugged first, and it bothered him immensely that he wasn't. Granted, Randy had been the one to hug her, not the other way around, but still.

As she realized what she'd done, Haley pulled away quickly and turned to her husband. Her eyes were wide and excited for all of two seconds before she remembered that Nathan didn't even know she'd been working on a bigger project. Well, until now. She glanced up at him, the words of explanation already on her tongue, but he took a step back.

"I better go turn off the stove before the house burns down," he said, only conscious of the smoke and growing smell because she'd mentioned it.

"Nathan, wait." Haley started after him, then remembered Randy, and paused. "I'm sorry, Randy, but I can't talk about this right now. I'll call you when it's really settled in, okay? But thank you—for all your help getting this done, and for wanting to let me know in person. I'm so thrilled, I am, I just… later, okay?"

Stunned, he could do nothing but nod his head in agreement and allow himself to be ushered the two steps out the door.

Haley bent to pick up the letter from the publisher, smiling as she folded it carefully and put it on the table. Then she took a deep breath and hurried after Nathan.

He was dumping out the very charred remains of what looked like pancakes when she entered the kitchen. Every line of his body was tight with irritation, his carriage stiff and more than a bit standoffish. She was used to his moods by now, and knew that if she pressed the wrong button he could explode at any moment, but she couldn't help thinking as she looked at him that her husband was the sexiest man she'd ever seen in her life.

"Is he gone?" he asked, without looking at her.

"Yes." She sighed, and leaned back against the counter. "I'm sorry, Nathan. I know you don't like him."

"But he's a good editor."

"Yes."

"And he helped you with your book."

"Yes." She eyed him curiously, unsure where this was going. Nathan wasn't reacting the way that she'd expected. There wasn't anger in his voice, though he was taut with it, and she couldn't read his eyes because they were concentrated on the blackened pan in his hand.

"Then don't be sorry. When do I get to read it?"

"What?"

"This book of yours. When do I get to read it?"

"I'm sorry, did I miss the part where you got mad at me?" she asked teasingly, her voice hopeful.

"I'm not mad." Nathan set the pan in the sink and turned to meet her gaze, his eyes honest. "You're right, I don't like him. I don't trust him, either, but I trust you, so if he helps you improve your writing then I want him to work with you. You don't have to apologize for doing what you need to do to make your work great. I want it to be great, and I know it can be." He winced. "But next time, could you tell me about whatever you're working on before I have to hear it from _him_?"

She chuckled and moved closer, until he wrapped his arms around her in an embrace that was both congratulations and forgiveness. It was a relief to lean against him, close her eyes, and just be with him. "Thank you for understanding. And I'm sorry I didn't mention the book before, but when I started it—"

"I know." He kissed the top of her head, a motion which soothed them both. "It's okay. As long as I get the first signed copy."

Haley giggled, feeling a renewed sense of glee at the thought of publishing her own book—and having someone to celebrate the successes in life with. "That's a deal. And you can read it as soon as you want—I have it on my laptop."

"Today," he decided immediately. He couldn't wait to read it, to see what she'd come up with. He had no doubt that it was incredible. "Now why don't you sit down and tell me about it while I make breakfast?"

Grinning, she did just that.


	19. Chapter 19

AN: Sorry it's been so long since the last update, guys. There is actually another chapter or two after this, and I'll try my hardest to make sure you're not waiting forever for the rest… thanks so much to everyone who is still actually interested in this story. Special thanks to Amy, who helped plant the idea for this chapter in my head. I hope it was worth the wait!

Haley and Nathan were huddled together at the breakfast table, laughing quietly together over pancakes and fresh fruit, when Deb walked into the kitchen a little while later. She stood in the entryway for a moment, unnoticed, and simply observed them, a smile slowly tugging the corners of her lips upward. When she and Dan had arrived at the house late the night before to find it dark, the couple already asleep, she'd wondered if it was a good or a bad sign. Now, she knew. Things had changed between them, and it made her heart glad to see them happy again.

It also told her that she was making the right choice. "Good morning," she said, walking further into the room and heading straight for the waiting pot of coffee.

They both turned to look at her, the grins on their faces no longer weighted by shadows. "Morning, Mom."

"Morning. Did you and Dan have a good time last night?"

Deb poured herself a cup of coffee and took a sip before replying. "It wasn't as bad as it could have been," she hedged, reluctant to go into the sometimes boring and sometimes uncomfortable evening she had spent listening to Dan and a business associate try to verbally one-up each other in a way that bordered the edge of civility. She and the other man's poor wife had spent a great deal of time looking at each other and rolling their eyes. "How about you two?"

Haley and Nathan glanced at each other, engaging in a silent conversation that left them both with secret smiles on their faces. "We had a nice quiet night," Haley answered after a second.

"Yeah, it was just what we needed," Nathan put in meaningfully. He couldn't blatantly tell his mother that things between them were finally looking up—not since Haley didn't know that Deb was aware things had been down in the first place—but he did want her to know that they were going to be okay, and that he'd appreciated the time alone.

"Good," Deb said, smiling as she leaned back against the counter. "So, I wanted to let you know that our plans have changed a little."

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked, almost dreading the answer. Their plans had changed? God, if she told him that Dan was going to be in the house any longer than necessary, he feared there would be major problems.

Seeing her son's panic, she had to hold back a laugh. "We're leaving this morning," she announced.

Haley frowned, sitting forward in her chair. "What? Why?"

"I think it's time we get out of your hair," she replied honestly with a smile, then hurried to add before Haley could object, "And after last night, Dan's got business on his mind. He's just going to drive us all crazy talking about the ideas here when he could be actually doing something about them at home. Trust me, I know him. It'll be better this way."

It was on the tip of Haley's tongue to suggest that they fly Dan back to Tree Hill and let Deb stay for the next few days as planned, but she swallowed the words since they seemed catty. "Are you sure? We don't mind having you here at all," she said instead, meaning it. She actually liked Deb being around. Dan was the problem.

"Thank you, Haley. I've had a really good time here, too, but I'm sure," she stated gently, not wanting to offend her. "I called the airline last night to change our flight. The plane leaves at one today."

Haley tried a little longer to change Deb's mind, but she wouldn't be dissuaded. It would have been nice to spend a little more time around her son and daughter-in-law, but leaving was the right thing to do. They needed to finish patching things up, and God knew that was no easy feat anyway, much less with Dan hovering around and stirring up trouble whenever he possibly could.

When Dan joined them for breakfast, it was hard to tell how he felt about the fact that they would be leaving earlier than originally planned. He watched the younger couple intently, as if he sensed something had changed but couldn't quite figure out what it was, but didn't say anything in particular about it.

After they ate, Deb and Dan finished packing their things before everyone climbed into Nathan's car for a drive to the airport.

It had just started to rain when they arrived at LAX, and but everyone climbed out when Nathan pulled up to the drop-off area. Nathan shook hands with his father a little awkwardly while Deb didn't hesitate to pull Haley into a tight hug. "Thanks for putting up with us," she chuckled. "I had a great time with you guys."

"I'm so glad you guys came out here," Haley replied, and found she truly meant it.

Deb embraced her son, marveling over how dwarfed she felt next to him, and said quietly, "Take care of each other, Nathan."

He smiled. "We will, mom. Thanks."

When Dan moved forward to hug her, Haley had to work to keep herself from backing right into the car. She held herself stiffly even in his arms. "We'll see how things are in a couple of months," he whispered so only she could hear. The bastard was smiling when he pulled away, and there was a challenge in his dark eyes.

It was all she could do to keep herself from pulling back an arm and plowing a fist into his smug face, but she managed a fake smile in return. "Yes," she replied evenly. "We will."

As she climbed back into the car, shaking raindrops from her hair, Haley determined to forget about the creepy encounter she'd just had with Dan. In an hour and a half, he would be on a plane back across the country. He'd done his damage, and couldn't do much else now.

Nathan took her hand and smiled at her before he pulled back out into the always crazy airport traffic, and that was enough to shift her chain of thought.

She studied his profile as he drove, thinking about the drastic turn of events their lives had taken. Just a little over a week ago, she'd been sure that her marriage was about to end. Now she felt like there was nowhere she'd rather be than by this irritating, wonderful man. But as much as their talk the day before had cleared the air between them, there was still one thing that bothered her, one question that wiggled its way into her brain even when she tried her hardest to just push aside all doubts and enjoy what was happening.

He was a stubborn man. A proud man, which she personally thought was one of the few traits he'd inherited from his father. When he wanted something, he could be pretty determined about getting it, and as he'd already pointed out to her, he hated to lose. So there was still something that she honestly didn't understand. "Nathan?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something without you getting mad?"

He glanced over at her, an amused smile on his face. "I should probably say that it depends on the question, but that sounds like the wrong answer. So, sure. Ask away."

She chuckled, shaking her head at his usual charm, and directed her gaze out the window. It took her a moment to gather the guts to blurt out her question. "Why didn't you come after me when I moved out?"

The question surprised him and he didn't bother trying to hide it, but he didn't insult either of them by inquiring why she'd asked. It took a moment to find the right words, and he swallowed hard before he replied. "At first, I was pissed and thought you might come home," he confessed. "Then I realized you weren't, and I knew if I pushed you, I might never be able to get you back."

Thinking about it, Haley had to admit that she could see his point. She'd been so angry and hurt when she'd left that it would have been easy for him to think that she wouldn't have been accepting of any attempt to get her back right away.

Except that she'd been so damn lonely, and she'd wanted him so much. But he hadn't seen that, of course. Neither of them had shown the other that.

Silently, she nodded her head, and gave his hand a squeeze. Good answer. Maybe not the exactly right one, but it was honest, and that was good.

"I wish I'd gone after you," he told her.

Haley smiled a bit wistfully, thinking about the time they'd missed together. "You did. It just took you a while."

~*~

Nathan hadn't realized until Haley asked about him not following her that this would be the first time they were back at the house together because they chose to be. For the past few days, they'd had the convenient excuse of Dan and the bet hanging over their heads. Now, Haley didn't have to stay at the house anymore.

And that scared the life out of him. But how was he supposed to bring it up without sounding like he was pressuring her? The last thing that he wanted to do was back her into a corner, make her feel like he was expecting something from her. He wanted to make her feel special, make things up to her, not ruin things all over again.

He spent the entire rest of the car ride to the house trying to think of a way to broach the subject. In the end, she took care of that for him.

They'd just climbed out of the car and were walking toward the front door when he noticed that she was hesitating, looking a little tentative and standing just underneath the cover of the awning so she was out of the rain. A ball of tension formed in his stomach. "You okay, Hales?" Did his voice sound strained to anyone else?

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, I just… I need to go to the apartment," she admitted, distinctly uncomfortable now.

"Oh. Oh, yeah, sure. I mean—"

It was just too awful to watch him try to hide the flash of pain that crossed his face. "Don't," she interrupted quickly. "Nathan, your thoughts are going in all the wrong directions, I promise you."

"What do you mean?"

"I… well, I was kind of thinking of going to pick up some more clothes," she admitted, watching his expression like a hawk for any change to indicate his thoughts on the matter. "To bring back here. For a while. If you think that's a good idea." Dear God, why didn't he say anything and let her stop rambling?

He was frozen in place for a moment, and then suddenly his face broke into a wide grin. "I think that's the best idea I've heard in a long time."

"Really?" Relief swamping her, she smiled back. "Good. Okay then. Do you want to come with me?"

"No, I think I'll stay here," he replied on impulse. "I've got some things I want to take care of."

She knew that look. What was he planning now? "All right," she said, drawing out the words to let him know she was on to him. "Then I guess I'll see you soon."

He was still smiling when he leaned down to kiss her softly. "Yup. Be careful, okay?"

"I will," she promised, digging her own keys out of her purse and hurrying to get into her car before she got drenched.

Nathan watched from the doorway while she started the car, then waved in his direction before pulling away. She was coming back. It wasn't necessarily permanent—heck, they'd hardly even talked about it—but it made him feel so good that he could have jumped around with that knowledge. He wanted to give her something to show how much this meant, and how seriously he was going to take it.

And then, suddenly, he had a plan.

It took some maneuvering to achieve, and there was more than one moment where he had to wonder if he was turning into one of those frighteningly sentimental men who only should really exist in chick flicks and romance novels, but he got it done before Haley returned. Actually, as it turned out, he had four minutes to spare.

Haley walked into the house with a suitcase of clothes rolling along behind her and a smaller bag slung over one arm. She had contemplated bringing her laptop along—it had been so tempting—but it seemed like a bad idea, considering the fact that work had been one of their biggest problems. Besides, since Dan and Deb had left earlier than expected, she was technically still off for a few more days.

She got to the living room before she froze, so shocked by the sight in front of her that she actually dropped her bag, narrowly escaping a crushed toe. It was Christmas.

In February.

Set up in the living room was the fake Christmas tree they'd bought years ago—where had Nathan even found that thing? They'd started getting the real thing after only one year with this green tinsel version—complete with hastily arranged ornaments. Their decorations were set around the room: the polar bear snow globe her sister had given her one year, the nativity set her parents had sent her and she'd never had the heart to throw away, the tacky Santa bobble head one of Nathan's college roommates had given him. On the table there was a neatly wrapped present.

She was still staring at everything in wonder when Nathan walked into the room, a mug in each hand. He smiled at her awestruck expression. "Merry Christmas, Haley."

"Uh, Merry Christmas," she replied, a little dazed. There was a question clear in her eyes when she looked at him, her face lighting up despite her confusion.

"I know, I know. We're a few months late," Nathan chuckled, crossing the room to press one warm mug into her hands. "But we didn't have much of a Christmas last year, and I was hoping we could make up for that now."

Christmas last year. Haley couldn't help but wince at the memory. She'd moved into the apartment a little over a week before Christmas, and it hadn't been the easiest time for either of them. They'd run into each other on the twenty-first, and Nathan had asked what her plans were... she'd wondered if he was hinting at something, but hadn't been sure, so she'd lied and said that she was going to be spending the day with some friends. When he said that he was probably going to a party with some people from work, she'd wondered if he was lying.

In reality, they both had been. Each had spent the day alone, wondering, taking calls from friends and family and pretending to be happy. It had been a miserable day.

"I know." Nathan put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing as if he could erase the pain of the memory. "Come on. We've got hot chocolate and everything. I didn't have the stuff for the good kind you make, so we have to deal with the instant stuff, but…"

"It's amazing, Nathan. Really incredible." She took a sip to prove it, and let him lead her toward the couch when he moved excitedly in that direction.

When they were settled on the cushions next to each other, he reached over to pick up the present. "Here. I never got to give you this."

She stared at it, feeling her cheeks heat. "Oh, Nathan, no… I don't have anything for—"

He hushed her, waving away the concern and again offering her the present. This time she took it, holding it gingerly in her hands before looking up to meet his eyes. "Open it."

"Okay." She took a deep breath, unable to keep herself from smiling with childish anticipation, and slid her finger underneath the seal of the wrapping. She pulled off the bright red and green paper, and felt a flutter in her stomach when she saw the little black box inside. Her fingers were actually trembling when she opened the box and saw the earrings—sparkly, dangly things with small diamonds and gems that winked in the light. She loved them. They weren't too large or gaudy, and they had enough color that they felt warm. She liked color.

"Nathan, they're beautiful," she breathed, looking up at him over the box. "I can't believe you did this for me…" Especially when they'd been fighting.

"Do you like them?"

"I love them. _Thank you_."

He beamed. "You're welcome."

"They're perfect." Even as she spoke, she was reaching up to remove her old pair and slip the new ones in. Then she grinned at him expectantly. "How do they look?"

He reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind one ear. "Perfect," he agreed.

She tossed the box on the table so she could throw her arms around him, hugging him tight. "I wish I had something for you."

"Actually, there is something you could give me."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as they separated. "Really? And what's that?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "Look at you, Mrs. Gutter brain. That wasn't what I had in mind. Although now…"

She poked him on the side. "What _did_ you have in mind?"

"Well, we have that piano over there… and no one's played it in a while…"

"Really?" Though the thought appealed to her, she looked skeptical that a little music would be a suitable gift. "You want me to play the piano?"

"And sing," he answered honestly. "It's been quiet around here."

Haley nodded her understanding of that and reached up to kiss him before crossing to the piano. For the next half hour, she mixed Christmas carols with whatever else she could remember the music to while rain pattered quietly against the window panes.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: **Well this took way longer to get out than I'd expected. You guys must get tired of hearing me say sorry for taking so long, so I'll just let you get to the story. One more chapter to go!

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Haley was dreaming of snowy Christmases by the fire when the phone rang the next morning, pulling her insistently from her sleep. She made a quiet sound of complaint into her pillow and stretched before prying an eye open, just in time to see Nathan crawl out of bed and reach for the cordless. As usual, he'd forgotten to put it back into the charger on the nightstand and instead left it on the dresser, out of easy reach. The old habit made her smile as she rolled over.

He grinned back at her as pressed the talk button and lifted the phone to his ear. "Hello?" At the sound of the voice on the other end, his face fell. "What? I thought we'd taken care of that." He turned away from her, as if to shield her from whatever he was hearing, and lifted a hand to run through his already messy hair in obvious annoyance. "No, that won't work. Mike was supposed to… well, I guess he didn't. I know, fine. I'll be there as soon as I can." He jabbed at the phone to end the call with a little more force than was absolutely necessary.

Frowning, Haley swiped at her eyes and pushed herself into a sitting position on the mattress. A minute ago, she'd been content enough to purr like a happy kitten, curled around the man she loved in bed. Now, she felt a ball of dread settle low in her stomach. "What's going on, Nathan?"

She knew, of course, but she needed to hear him say it.

When he turned back to look at her, his eyes were full of regret. "There's a problem at work that I have to go take care of."

"Oh." She didn't comment any further, but there was a wealth of discontent in that one word, and both of them realized it.

Nathan winced, but he was already heading for the closet and pulling out black slacks. "I'm sorry, Haley. I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise."

She nodded numbly, her mouth frozen shut as she watched him whirl around the room getting ready. She was so disappointed that it felt like she was being strangled by it.

Back as soon as he could. How many times had she heard that before while waiting for him to come home in the evening? It was a stalling technique, something to say in the hopes that she would lay her hurt feelings on the doorstep of his company rather than on him. _Of course _he wanted to be home with her, he just couldn't get away. He'd _obviously _have gotten back already if he had a say, but the company was so damn evil and demanding, they'd practically chained him to his desk.

Right. She'd fallen for that enough to make her feel like a fool. Nathan was a perfectionist and a little bit of a control freak when it came to his accounts, and that was that.

But he'd said he would try to change for her, change with her. This—him abandoning her the first morning they were alone, when he was still officially on vacation—was not a promising start.

Still looking regretful—she tried her hardest not to remember that he'd perfected that look a long time ago—he disappeared into the bathroom and she could hear the faucet turn on, turn off, as he brushed his teeth. He emerged a minute later, tucking his shirt into the waistband of his pants, then hurried to grab some black socks from the dresser.

It looked, to the casual observer, as though he couldn't wait to get out of the house. And even knowing that she was overreacting, Haley couldn't help but sit back and observe with an increasingly sick feeling in her stomach.

It didn't help that when he'd put on his shoes and was ready to go, he'd taken three steps toward the door before remembering her and making a quick retreat into their room to say goodbye. He leaned down, pressing a quick kiss to her lips, and said again, "Back as soon as I can, Hales."

She nodded her head and smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Sure."

The sound of the front door closing nearly drove her to tears.

She lay in bed for long minutes afterward, listening to the silence that surrounded her. This was what had driven her crazy all along. The emptiness. Their house wasn't huge by any means, but it always seemed to feel larger when she was alone like this, wishing that her husband was still with her.

When the urge to pull the covers over her head and burrow in for a day of wallowing in self pity hit, she forced herself out of bed. _Snap out of it,_ she silently commanded. Okay, so Nathan was already failing to keep up his end of the bargain, and that was a bad sign for the future. But was it necessarily a portent of doom? No, and it certainly didn't mean that she was going to fall into a slump of depression.

Depression wouldn't do any good. Anger was better. Anger was at least _productive_. It got her out of bed, showered, and dressed, and propelled her into a morning of cleaning that helped her focus her thoughts about her husband and his obsession with work.

Okay, so she hated it. But she had to admit that some things had changed. This time she knew it was really the work drawing him in, not his busty blonde assistant. Plus, it was possible that he really would try to come home when he could, and he'd only be at the office until five today instead of God only knew when, like in the past.

Right now, it felt as if her whole being rested upon that one thing. As pathetic as it made her, Nathan Scott had stolen her heart as a teenager, and she was beginning to seriously doubt that she'd ever get it back.

So she hoped that he wouldn't forget his promise entirely, and shook her head at the foolishness of her heart as she moved from cleaning the kitchen to the bathroom. Faced with the reality of the past, she wouldn't hold her breath, but she would still hope.

Haley was about to go into the backyard and make an attempt at weeding the flowerbeds a few hours later when she heard the front door open.

Nathan's voice rang through the house as the door slammed shut. "Hey, Hales, where are you? I brought lunch."

She joined him in the kitchen as he was pulling cartons of Chinese out of a takeout bag and placing them on her absolutely spotless countertop. As happy as she was to see him—and she really was, as proven by the way her stomach fluttered pleasantly when he smiled at her—something in her brain was failing to understand what was going on. Why did this man continuously turn her mind to mush? "Hi."

"Hey." He grinned as he put down the white carton in his hand and leaned over to kiss her, his hand coming to rest gently on the length of her neck. His thumb absently caressed her pulse point, which she _knew _had to be racing. He was still smiling when they separated. "Did you clean up in here?"

"Uh, yeah, a little." Which meant that she probably looked like a red level disaster, and smelled like bathroom cleaner, but neither of those things even bothered her at the moment. She was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Looks good, but you're supposed to be on vacation," he teased, opening one carton and inhaling deeply. She could smell the sweet and sour from where she stood. "You hungry? You didn't eat yet, did you?"

"No, I didn't eat." She turned and pulled plates from the cabinet, as well as serving utensils for the food, which there was enough of to feed an army. But she stopped short of handing them over. "I thought you had to work."

"I did." The reason for her strange behavior hit him then, and he let out a breath as he leaned one hip against the counter. _Stupid. _He'd run off to work to fix a problem that was holding up a job, but that was it. One account, and he hadn't even stayed to finish things up because he'd known that Haley was home.

But he hadn't bothered to explain any of that on his way out, and it was all too easy now to think of her pacing the hallway, feeling abandoned and, worse, betrayed. "Shit."

She put down the plates and blinked at him, her expression a bit startled.

"You thought I was going to spend the day at work because I'm an idiot and rushed out the door this morning. And after last night…" He sighed. "Damn it, Haley, I'm sorry. I had to go in this morning because _my _stuff was holding up other people, but I was never gonna stay any longer than I needed to. I just got my work done and left, I swear. I didn't mean… I didn't even think about—"

"It's okay," she interrupted, and found that she meant it. The invisible elephant that had been sitting on her chest all morning was suddenly gone, pushed off by the realization that Nathan hadn't completely ignored everything he'd promised her.

"I should have explained," he said, wrapping his arms around her and looking down into her eyes. "I meant what I said, Haley. I love you and we're going to do this."

It was ridiculous, how he could still make her heart leap with those three wonderful words, but he did. "I love you, too." _Always and forever_.


	21. Epilogue

**A/N: **Finally, it's done! Thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this (really long) journey and prodding me to finish. I hope you all enjoy it!

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Five months later

The backyard was filled with people milling around, chatting and snacking on the catered hors d'oeuvres. Music flowed around from the outside speakers, and twinkle lights in the trees glowed as the light from the setting sun began to wane.

Haley stood in the kitchen, looking out at her friends and family who had come to help celebrate tonight. She knew she had a dopey smile on her face, but she couldn't help herself. Seven years. Her relationship with Nathan had survived the seven years that Dan had bet they never would.

But more importantly, they'd been married for three years. That was how she'd count their relationship from now on. No more bet hanging over their heads, no more pressure from the demon her husband called his father. Their marriage was what mattered—was _all_ that mattered. To Haley, this party was as much about that freedom as it was about their anniversary.

She went outside to join everyone else, and met up with Peyton as she went to grab a drink. The curly-haired blonde had flown into town the day before and spent the afternoon helping Haley and Nathan set up for the party. Now she grinned and held up her glass in a little toast. "Hey, Mrs. Scott. Nice party you've got going on here."

"Thank you. I had a little help."

"Yeah, well, you deserve it." Suddenly serious, Peyton laid a hand on Haley's shoulder. "I'm glad you got past all that stuff and got here."

Touched, Haley smiled. "Thank you. We love each other. It was there all the time, it just got… buried, I guess, by everything else in our lives."

"You know, I always sort of envied the way Nathan looks at you." When Haley turned her head and raised an eyebrow, Peyton laughed and playfully bumped her shoulder against the other woman's. "No, not like that. He and I never could have been in love with each other. I just… seeing you together reminds me how crazy he is about you. He'd do anything for you, Haley, you must know that."

"I do." She hadn't, not for a while there, but now she knew. Haley's eyes followed her husband as he laughed with one of his friends from college, then moved on to say hi to his mother. He'd been all but glued to her side until a little while ago, when she'd shooed him away with an order to go mingle. A gentle smile floated to her lips. "I feel the same way about him. You know, when I'm not ready to kill him."

Peyton grinned. "Keep telling yourself that. You guys are head over heels in love."

The wistful tone of her friend's voice made Haley turn to Peyton, her eyes clouding with concern. "Is something wrong? I'm sorry, Peyton, I've been so caught up in my drama that I haven't really asked you how things are in your life lately."

"No, don't apologize. You've been working on your marriage. You needed to, and I'm glad you did," she replied, shaking her head. "Besides, I'm fine. Things are the same. But sometimes I just wish that they were… different."

"With Luke?"

"I don't know. With Luke. With me." She shrugged her slender shoulders, and immediately felt bad for heaping this all on her friend at this moment. It was supposed to be a party, Haley and Nathan's time to relax. The last thing Haley needed was to tackle someone else's problems in the middle of it. "Don't worry about it, Haley. Today's your day."

"And you're my friend. I can share my day."

"No, not today. Maybe tomorrow."

"I'll hold you to that," Haley threatened gently.

Peyton laughed as she moved away, clearly intent on not having this conversation now. "I know you will."

Watching her walk away, Haley mentally determined to have a conversation with Lucas later; he was around here somewhere, and she wanted to know where his mind was when it came to relationships. Surely if she and Nathan could get so screwed up and make it right, he and Peyton could. If they wanted to, they could.

She was still thinking about them when someone walked up to the table next to her. A little glance over and her mood dropped just a little before she remembered that this man had lost.

Dan didn't bother with pleasantries, not that she expected any. "So I guess you did it."

"I guess we did." Haley smiled as she took a sip of her drink, too content to let even Dan's presence drag her down. She was aware of Nathan watching her from a few feet away, and that was enough to give her courage. "I want to thank you, Dan, for the first and probably the last time."

"Thank me?"

"Yes. Because Nathan and I had a hard time for a while there and who knows what might have happened if we hadn't had a mutual enemy to work against." She saw his jaw tighten and shrugged. "I see you're not fond of the terminology, but it is what it is. You tried to drive us apart with that bet, but you ended up doing the exact opposite, and we're better than ever now. We won. So I'd tell you to hold up your end of the bargain and stay away from us, but it's not worth it. You're not a man of your word, and anyway, we can handle anything you throw at us. Who knows, maybe you'll even help us out." With a satisfied smile in his direction, she turned to walk away.

At a loss for anything else to say, Dan took a parting shot. "Maybe I won't need to do anything. You look like you've put on a few pounds, Haley. If you're not careful, you'll end up driving him away yourself."

She whirled on her heel to face him and grinned. "I _have _gained some weight recently. How nice of you to notice, Dan. I'm pregnant—Nathan and I are making the announcement at dinner. Guess you don't need to worry about our sex life after all."

Pleased with the knowledge that she'd won, she left him alone and walked right over to Nathan, who wrapped his arms around her. She was beyond worrying about Dan Scott now.


End file.
